On the first watching it looked like two players were involved. On the second watching it was two players involved. One thing is certain. Ireland left wing, Mack Hansen was driven into the in Aviva stadium turf headfirst in the opening half of Ireland’s game against South Africa.
From the viewpoint of referee Nika Amashukeli, the Irish winger hit the ground with his back and that was a mitigating circumstance for either or both fullback Cheslin Kolbe and blindside flanker Pieter-Steph Du Toit being given yellow cards. They were both involved in the tackle.
On closer examination it was the smaller player Kolbe, who was the major force in the tackle action. As Hansen moved forward, he was grappled by Du Toit. But it was the smaller man Kolbe who upended Hansen well beyond the horizontal and with force pushed him downwards.
The action was dangerous. The downward force was enough to force Hansen to extend an arm to break his fall and twist around so that his head was not the first part of his body to make contact. Still, the entire movement was a lift and turn in the air and a drive downwards head first.
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That Hansen landed without injury was not due to Kolbe’s duty of care to the player in the tackle. It was not due to him carefully guiding Hansen to the grass, knowing that he had turned the player upside down. It was in any other circumstance a tip tackle and the use of downward force to the ground of an opposing player.
Law 9.18 - The tackler lifted his/her opponent from the ground; and drove/dropped the opposition player on the ground; and the opposition player’s head and/or upper body came into contact with the ground.
That merited a red card for Kolbe, not a yellow.
