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'A nothing collision' - Ulster fans fuming over double standard of prop's red card
By Ian Cameron
Ulster fans have were left furious yesterday, not so much at the nature of the red card handed to prop Andy Warwick, but rather that previous Leinster infringements didn't warrant the same punishment.
Table-toppers Leinster booked a spot in the PRO14 final after dispatching Ulster 19 - 38 in the Kingspan, but the sending off that swung the game was the talk of fans on social media.
World Rugby's zero-tolerance approach to head contacts - off the back of a high-profile lawsuit in the UK - has seen red cards brandished at an alarming rate in recent months. Five were delivered across the water in the Gallagher Premiership last weekend, with a further two this weekend.
Warrick was given his marching orders by referee Frank Murphy after he fended Leinster prop Ed Byrne with a forearm that appeared to make brief contact with the Leinster prop's neck. Murphy initially appeared to want to give the Ulsterman a yellow, but a discussion with the TMO Olly Hodges saw it upgraded it to a red card.
While the merits of the red for Warwick for an incident that might have been a penalty at worst a couple of years ago upset some Ulster fans, what was upsetting more was the apparent double standards on display.
Six foot ten Devin Toner's yellow for a seatbelt tackle on Michael Lowry stood out as potentially being at least as grievous as Warwick's indiscretion, but Leinster centre Jimmy O'Brien's head contact with Ian Madigan objectively looked worse in the context of a game trying to minimise brain trauma.
O'Brien collected Madigan with an upright tackle that saw him inadvertently headbutt the former Leinster standoff. O'Brien was yellow-carded, but it made it incredibly hard to justify the red card for Warwick later in the game.
BBC rugby pundit Stephen Watson tweeted: "I realise you don’t referee intent and by the letter of the law Warwick’s elbow is a red - but in that case surely the challenge by O’Brien on Madigan was a red too?"
After the game Ulster head coach Dan McFarland said of the incident: "I'm certainly going to talk about them, but that will be done in private."
The debate rumbles on.
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Latest Comments
There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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