From the Egg-Chasers

[JBeil]

I wonder if those watching England vs Ireland yesterday have seen this from Matt Dawson - from my limited knowledge on rugger as a player, it seemed a fairly clear red, and Dawson himself says "by the letter of the law, it was right."

'Unacceptable to spoil games with poor red cards'

Matt Dawson says referee Jaco Peyper's decision to send Freddie Steward off in England's defeat by Grand Slam-winning Ireland was "disgraceful".

www.bbc.co.uk

More of football's problem creeping into rugby?

 

[RustyRef]

Not really, it would be one of those in football described the majority as very soft. There was contact with elbow on head, but the general consensus from rugby experts (of which I am definitely not one) was that it was totally accidental and there was nothing Steward could do to prevent it happening.

Rugby pundits and commentators have always criticised refereeing decisions, it is just the players that can't.

 

[george.g]

This one was more frustration at the law, as opposed to the officials here, which I think exists in any sport.

The Referee, when using TMO (Rugby's VAR), confirmed the facts as 'Contact Shoulder to head', 'High Degree of Danger' and 'No attempt to wrap [arms around the player being tackles]', meaning it's a red card.

I'm sure there's las in football that frustrate pundits, such as YC for removing shirts during celebrations, but they exist and as officials, we enforce them

 

[Tealeaf]

I’d also add the fact that the Ireland player failed a head injury assessment from the incident is exactly what “High degree of danger” is.

He won’t play for at least 10 days now, so it’s not to be taken lightly.

 

[Martiju]

This one was more frustration at the law, as opposed to the officials here, which I think exists in any sport.

The Referee, when using TMO (Rugby's VAR), confirmed the facts as 'Contact Shoulder to head', 'High Degree of Danger' and 'No attempt to wrap [arms around the player being tackles]', meaning it's a red card.

And no mitigation. So he had time to turn his body but not time to put arms out or try and restrict impact. In many ways it is similar to the 'excessive force' argument, so definitely nothing wrong with the decision as the law stands.

 

[GraemeS]

I mean, I think the "no mitigation" bit is probably correct in rugby law (as far as I understand it) but feels a little counterintuitive to me watching it.

It's a loose ball which both players are going for and the Ireland player gathers first but is bending low as a result. Seeing this, the England player attempts to pull out of the contact by turning away and the fact the Ireland's player head hits his elbow is completely accidental - if this were head vs foot in a football match, I think there would be a real case for saying the Ireland player ducked in an unsafe way.

All of that is "mitigation" in the sense I would use the word, even if it doesn't tick any of the mitigation options defined by rugby's laws. Counterintuitively to me who doesn't play contact sports, if he'd actively engaged in the tackle and made an attempt to increase the force and actively encourage contact, it probably would have been yellow at worst - it's the attempt to get out of the way that has made the contact worse in the eyes of Rugby's laws.

 

[Ref_Dad]

And the red card has now been rescinded.

Six Nations 2023: Freddie Steward's red card against Ireland rescinded

Quote from the linked article:

An independent disciplinary committee reviewed all available evidence and heard from Steward via video link.

The committee found there were "sufficient mitigating factors" for the collision and ruled that Steward is free to play again immediately.

Ireland made a loose, forward pass which hit the ground before being gathered by Keenan, with the ball bouncing a split second before Steward and Keenan collided.

The committee deemed that referee Jaco Peyper should have shown Steward a yellow card rather than a red, and therefore been sin-binned, saying that one of the mitigating factors was "the late change in the dynamics and positioning of the opposing player".

However, the committee also "acknowledged that match officials are required to make decisions under pressure and in the heat of a live match environment".