All Blacks lock Scott Barrett cleared to play

All Blacks second row Scott Barrett has been cleared to play with immediate effect after his double yellow card at the weekend was deemed sufficient.

Barrett faced a panel following a red card he received in his side’s Rugby World Cup 2023 warm-up game against South Africa on Friday night in Twickenham. The red card was a result of two prior yellow cards.

Barrett ultimately paid the price for the All Blacks’ lack-lustre discipline which saw them give away a staggering number of penalties, and eventually, referee Matthew Carley had enough.

The independent judicial committee decided “that his ordering off in the RWC 2023 Warm Up match against South Africa on 25 August 2023 was sufficient” and that no further sanction was necessary.

The Committee, led by Sir James Dingemans (England), with Olly Kohn (Wales) and Valeriu Toma (Romania), determined that the Judicial Committee must impose a penalty for persistent offences as stipulated in Appendix 4 of Regulation 17.

The focus was on persistent wrongdoing rather than individual substantive violations linked to each yellow card, per Regulation 17, Appendix 4, B.1. As per Appendix 4, B 2(c), the Committee could decide that the red card sufficed if the temporary suspensions were due to technical infractions, including those that followed a team warning, which didn’t entail breaches of laws 9.11 to 9.28.

The All Blacks will be breathing a sigh of relief, even if the panel ruling was effectively a foregone conclusion given the context.

“The facts are he got a yellow card, the first yellow card was not for foul play. The second yellow card was a yellow card, so it wasn’t a red card,” said All Blacks head coach Ian Foster on Saturday.“The judiciary, fortunately, don’t judge people on the reaction of people on the opposition, they judge it on the facts.”