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Every red card from this weekend's Heineken Champions Cup

By Stefan Frost
Ollie Chessum is sent off for a high tackle /PA

A few years ago, red cards were a rare sight. Flash forwards to this weekend and there have been five red cards dished out across eight Heineken Champions Cup ties. Not all the teams that dropped to 14 men ended up losing their tie, but the impact of losing a player is always hard felt.

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Below RugbyPass takes a closer look at each of the four incidents.

Arron Reed, Bristol Bears v Sale Sharks
This all-English affair could have hinged entirely around a red card administered in the first half when Sale were 10-3 ahead. Fortunately for the Sharks, Arron Reed’s dismissal did not result in their demise.

As Bristol winger Luke Morahan found space down the right flank, he was hunted down by Reed. The Sale winger made the hit on his opposite man but ascended in the tackle, making contact with Morahan’s head. There was no question about whether the tackle made was a legal one and Reed was soon sent off.

Maama Vaipulu, La Rochelle v Bordeaux Bègles
This was a real moment of madness. With just 25 minutes on the clock, Bordeaux’s Maama Vaipulu was red carded for shoulder charging.

La Rochelle already had the advantage on the scoresheet, after comprehensively beating their French compatriots 31-13 last weekend. The score was evenly poised at 3-3 in the second leg when Vaipulu, not unfamiliar to illegal on field conduct, decided to drive his shoulder into Jonathan Danty’s face.

The tackle made little sense, as Danty was running a support line for flyhalf Ihaia West, who had broken through the defensive line into space. At no point in the move did the French centre have the ball in hand, but this did not stop Vaipulu from making the hit.

After a quick TMO referral, referee Wayne Barnes reached into his pocket and pulled out a red for the number eight. Incidentally, this was not the first time Vaipulu has been sent off in the Champions Cup.

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Ollie Chessum, Leicester Tigers v Clermont Auvergne
The Tigers were in the driving seat for most of this tie but still did not escape the referee’s book. The Englishmen were leading 22-10 with less than 20 minutes left, when Ollie Chessum was removed from the field for a high tackle on Samuel Ezeala, who had only just been subbed on.

Chessum is six foot seven and that height negatively impacted him on this occasion, as he failed to get low enough when making the hit. Instead of tackling Ezeala below shoulder height, the young flanker caught the winger in the face and was given a red for the infringement.

Tom O’Toole, Ulster v Toulouse
Ulster were 15 minutes away from progressing to the quarter finals, leading the reigning European Champions Toulouse by three points on aggregate, when disaster struck.

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Anthony Jelonch was leaning over, bracing for a tackle when carrying the ball into contact. Replacement prop Tom O’Toole remained upright and, as he tried to wrap Jelonch, made contact with the French flanker’s head. As shoulder hit head, hopes of a third Irish side reaching the next round fell apart.

The lowered body position of Jelonch was a mitigating factor in the tackle, but was not enough to prevent O’Toole from receiving a red card. Ulster then went on to lose the tie after dropping to 14 men.

Sefa Naivalu, Racing 92 v Stade Francais
Stade Francais were always the underdogs in this match up but with 34 minutes played in the second leg, they found themselves leading 15-6. Excitement quickly turned to shock when Teddy Thomas broke down the right and offloaded to Louis Dupichot. The Racing fullback looked set to score until Sefa Naivalu came in from the side with a no-arms tackle.

Naivalu’s inability to wrap meant he was red carded, while Dupichot was subbed off after being injured in the tackle. Racing were awarded a penalty try as well, making matters worse for the men in pink who quickly lost control of the tie.

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Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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