'Everyone blames us': Kiwi ref's take on the Ewels' red card
England’s second-minute red card to Charlie Ewels against Ireland has raised conjecture around the punishment for high tackles, with ex-All Black John Kirwan calling for the 20-minute red card rule to be re-introduced globally.
Referee Ben O’Keeffe, a guest panelist on The Breakdown, largely agreed with Kirwan’s view and offered in an insight into the processes the referee must go through to make the decision.
“I keep saying, it’s about the rules and how we need to get rid of some and change some,” Kirwan said.
“The red card on the weekend is just another moment where people are paying decent money going to a game and it’s being wrecked.
“The Northern Hemisphere did not want the 20-minute rule. I just think it ruins the game of rugby.”
Trialled in Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship last year, a team receiving a red card would be reduced to 14 men for 20 minutes, and that player could be replaced by a reserve. The infringing player would not be able to return to the field.
O’Keeffe agreed with Kirwan’s assertion that the outcome of a red card should change, but noted the on-field decision in the England game was correct as that is how the officials have been told to referee.
“If we look at this clip here [of the Ewels tackle], it’s less than two minutes into the game and it is a red card,” O’Keeffe explained.
“It’s one of the biggest games of the year in the Six Nations. As referees, we are told how we are going to referee these types of tackles.
“When a player isn’t in a legitimate position to make a tackle, not bent at the hips, they don’t have their arms up when they are upright, they’ve got to take responsibility of their outcomes and actions.
“The outcome of that [Ewels tackle], there was direct contact to the head, with force, there was no mitigation. Therefore, the referee has no other option but to issue a red card.
“That would have been a red card in the 78th minute, and unfortunately it was the second minute of that game.
“Now everyone is talking about how it was a great game, but it should have been a great game with 15 on 15.
“It puts pressure on us because everyone blames us for ruining the spectacle, ruining the games. It’s just the laws at the moment.”
18 months before the last World Cup, O’Keeffe was part of the group of referees who were consulted about the changes made and the implementation of the high-tackle framework.
The changes caused widespread controversy as the number of cards issued began to rise dramatically. O’Keeffe believes the changes were rolled out too close to the showpiece event for everyone to become familiar with the new laws.
“We all know that cards impact a game heavily. As referees we don’t want to impact the game but we have got to referee the laws,” O’Keeffe told The Breakdown.
“Before 2019, we had a high-tackle framework come out, six weeks out before a competition, the World Cup.
“Players didn’t have time to adjust. Referees, we didn’t really have time to probably get that correct either. In the first few rounds, I was involved in a few as well.
“There was a lot of controversy. We shouldn’t be having controversy in a World Cup. It should be about the players and the teams.”
O’Keeffe said the new high contact process has a lot more understanding among players and referees alike which has some flexibility and potential mitigation around contact to the head.
Not every incident will result in a red card now, whereas, previously, any contact deemed to touch the head would have been. By the time the World Cup arrives, O’Keeffe believes there will be a better understanding than last time.
“What’s changed now? So, we are 18 games away, we’ve got a high contact process now, which is slightly different, where we go through the points: Is there foul play? Is there head contact? If there is, how much force? is there any mitigation?
“There is a lot more understanding around if, ‘Okay, the force is low, it doesn’t always need to be a red card if there is contact to the head’.
“Whereas, a few years ago, if there is contact to the head, it is pretty much automatically a red card, so there is a shift there. There is better understanding from the referees. I think there is better technique from the players, they understand that better.
“I do believe by the time we get to the next World Cup, we are not going to drop too many changes and we should all be better for it.”
In other refereeing matters, there are growing concerns over the duration of a fixture with the number of incidents that get reviewed in a game.
Queensland Reds coach Brad Thorn was vocal about changes to the game to speed the process up after the first half against the Fijian Drua dragged on for over an hour.
25 penalties were blown by referee Jordan Way, while three yellow cards were given for three separate incidents inside 30 seconds during one lengthy stoppage before halftime.
The approach in Australia contrasts with the initiative underway in New Zealand as the officials actively try to speed up a game by referring less decisions to the TMO.
O’Keeffe says there has been a measurable impact in the difference between the games across the Tasman.
“I agree, we do need to speed the game up, the great thing we have been doing for Super Rugby is we as referees have been doing that,” he said.
“Up until the rounds so far, there has been about one TMO intervention per game on average in New Zealand where there is about three and a half in Australia, so already there is a difference.
“We are already saving four minutes of rugby, so we are going in the right direction to speed the game up, but still we need to work on the outcomes of these [red card] decisions.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Both nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to comments