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'Hamish Watson couldn't even look at him' - Red card mayhem in Paris

Grant Gilchrist of Scotland is shown the red card from Referee Nika Amashukeli during the Six Nations Rugby match between France and Scotland at Stade de France on February 26, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Reds cards have made a telling return to Guinness Six Nations in the final game of the third round, playing a major role in proceedings in France and Scotland’s crunch match in Paris.

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Scotland endured a torrid start at Stade de France as they trailed 19-0 after 20 minutes of the match that had already brought a red card for both teams.

Romain Ntamack opened the scoring with a fifth-minute try before Scotland were reduced to 14 men when Scotland lock Grant Gilchrist was sent off after he received a red card for a reckless shoulder-to-face tackle on France’s Anthony Jelonch.

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Gilchrist’s actions were deemed a dangerous and intentional infringement of the rules by referee Nika Amashukeli and his fellow match officials, resulting in his expulsion from the game. His red card proved to be a turning point in the match, as Scotland struggled to cope with a man down.

As former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton told ITV from pitchside: “Hamish Watson couldn’t even look at him” when he was forced off as Scotland brought on Jonny Gray to make up the tight five numbers.

The French capitalised on the extra man as Ethan Dumortier notched their second try in the eighth minute.

Just a few minutes France’s Mohamed Haouas would follow him to the dug-out. The hot-headed tighthead was shown a red card for a dangerous hit on Scotland nine Ben White. Haouas was deemed have led with the head at a ruck when he made contact with White’s face as he defended the line.

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Amashukeli initially felt there was a low degree of danger but was talked around by TMO Ben Whitehouse.

It was the first time that two red cards have been shown in the first half of a Guinness Six Nations match.

It didn’t slow France down though, as Thomas Ramos seized on a loose pass from Finn Russell to score.

additional reporting PA

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2 Comments
J
James 865 days ago

Why wasn't the Scotland No.8 also penalised?

R
RF 864 days ago

I suspect that it was considered a bit harsh to have a red and a yellow for the same incident. I think that Fagerson was lucky.

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t
takata 1 hour ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

Please, tell me who exactly are all those millionaires owning the Top 14?


And, by the way, can you tell me who are also those that ever transformed a single French club into their cash cow?


It’s probably an old cliché comming from, some time ago in early pro time, the revival of both Ile-de-France clubs by private investors like J. Lorenzetti at Racing 92, or the rise of Toulon’s “Gallacticos” under Mourad Boudjellal, ending with the very noisy late Altrad investments into Montpellier-Hérault. Even if a few major titles were collected by those clubs, and that it would indeniably have helped to rise the fame of the whole Top 14, the global return on private investments simply didn’t ever pay back what they put in.


Another look into the last decade will show you that French clubs are not millionaires pet-projects either. From this season top 6, amongst Stade Toulousain (1st), Union Bordeaux-Bègles (2nd), Rugby Club Toulonnais (3rd), l’Aviron Bayonnais (4th), Clermont-Auvergne (5th) and Castres Olympique (6th), only the last two are backed by historical corporate entities: Michelin (tires) for Clermont and Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (pharma) for Castres.


That’s long term sponsorship from those city main industries and, with Stade Toulousain since 1907, Clermont and Castres (one of the lowest budget in Top 14), are also the oldest members of the French rugby club elite. This certainly prove some healthy stability in their management. They are in fact as far away from marketing “products” that they are from Paris.


But in Top 14, as reflected by their national team selection, club power is certainly measured by their success. The most successful of them all, Stade Toulousain, reached a 2023-2024 budget comparable with the lower end of a French elite football club (those not named PSG) and half of it’s income (€30 millions) was comming from merchandising sales only. Last monday, UBB sold out, in a matter of few hours, its 20K season ticket (out of their 32K seats stadium) and La Rochelle’s stadium was also sold out faster than I can type it for every single game of last season; and so on.


Now, take only those three clubs providing 90% of the national team and paying 100% of their wages. Tell them that the share of the limited game time allowed to their top players, will rise from 25% to 40% for the national team, without any further compensation for the club than allowing them to spend more in recruitment (of probably lesser quality substitutes).


See how it goes now with their board and Presidents, even if probably all of them are turning real profits.

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