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Ex-All Blacks at odds over plethora of red cards in Super Rugby Pacific

By Sam Smith
(Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

Two former All Blacks, and a current Black Ferns star, have offered contrasting views about the red cards that plagued the latest round of Super Rugby Pacific.

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Over the course of the weekend, and the mid-week match between the Blues and Moana Pasifika, a total of four red cards were brandished to those who made contact with the heads of opposition players.

Blues duo Nepo Laulala and Caleb Clarke were both sent off in separate matches against Moana Pasifika last week, with the former clattering into the head of Moana Pasifika midfielder Fine Inisi at a breakdown on Tuesday.

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Clarke, on the other hands, was red carded on Saturday for a failed charge down attempt that saw him leap into the air and collide his thigh with Tomasi Alosio’s head, which left the Moana Pasifika wing concussed and without memory of the incident.

Crusaders hooker Shilo Klein, meanwhile, was sent off for connecting his shoulder with the head of Highlanders prop Ethan de Groot, as was Reds flanker Tuaina Tualima after he crashed into Brumbies prop James Slipper’s head at a ruck.

All of those events have led to plenty of discussions about the number of red cards being handed out, with former All Blacks Mils Muliaina and Steven Bates, as well as Black Ferns midfielder Chelsea Semple, being left divided on the issue.

Speaking on The Breakdown, Muliaina and Bates agreed that the reckless nature of Laulala’s clean out on Inisi “wasn’t necessary” and warranted a red card.

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However, they held opposing opinions about Tualima’s red card, with Muliaina stipulating that Tualima’s clean out of Slipper was necessary as he believed the Brumbies veteran was making a nuisance of himself by slowing down the ball for the Reds.

As such, Muliaina said Tualima needed to clean Slipper out, a task that was made tricky given that the latter had shifted his body weight against a Reds player at the ruck, leaving his head as the only target available to clean out for Tualima.

“… When you move bodies, and someone that’s being really niggly and you hit them out of the way, they’re not going to go there again,” Muliaina told The Breakdown.

“In this situation [Laulala’s red card], that was totally off the boil, it wasn’t necessary.

“You’re going to hurt someone compared to a situation that we’d seen last night when Slipper was being an absolute menace, slowed the ball right down, and then Tualima and has to do something about him because he’s slowing their ball.

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“His [Slipper’s] chest is on the body [of a Reds player], and that’s where guys get frustrated because [of] acts like that. I disagree that was a red card.”

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Bates, however, agreed with the decision to send Tualima off on the basis that he made contact with Slipper’s head, adding the Reds loose forward would have been better off to try an alternative technique to limit the Brumbies star’s disruption.

“I think it has to be a red card because he’s hit him in the head,” Bates told The Breakdown.

“I think it has to be, and that’s the rules… He [Tualima] has no other place to hit, unfortunately, than his [Slipper’s] head. You talk about technique, what he probably needs to do, unfortunately for him, is go there and just hold Slipper in that ruck.”

In the case of Clarke, Muliaina questioned what the five-test All Blacks wing was supposed to do in that situation and suggested that referees were making their decisions based on the outcome of plays rather than the play itself.

“The thing that scares me when they say this process is if anything is on the head, anything sort of hits the head, they’ll work from the red card down,” Muliaina, the World Cup-winning All Blacks centurion, said.

“But then you get a scenario like a Caleb Clarke incident, where he’s actually jumped in the air and then we’ve seen the result of that and the player has been hit on the head.

“Different situation, but does that then say, because he’s hit his head, do we work from the red down? How is Caleb meant to move from that?”

Semple countered Muliaina’s argument by saying that Clarke would have been sent off had he still connected with Alosio’s head regardless of whether he charged the ball down or not.

“For me, it comes back to player welfare, and the line Caleb jumped there, there was no other option but for him to hit him in the head,” Semple told The Breakdown.

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“You guys might disagree, but there was never going to be any other outcome if he charged it down or not, so player welfare, to me, is the most important thing, and referees have to be consistent.

“When there is force to someone’s head, that’s endangering player welfare. They have to be consistent, that’s why the red cards are coming.”

Muliaina disagreed, though, as he brought into question how officials are able to judge the best course of action Clarke could have taken in that instance.

“I disagree with that, because how do you determine what Caleb Clarke has to do? Are you going to say, ‘Okay, I’ve got to determine player welfare here? I can’t jump and try and charge it down,’” he said.

“If he gets up and catches the ball and charges it down and hits him in the head, is that then a red card and the responsibility is on Caleb to say, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to take responsibility in terms of player welfare?’

“You can’t move in the air. He has three options: I go up in the air and try and charge it down, I let him go past and try and chase, or do I just pull out?

“There’s no way in a sport that’s moving this fast that you’re going to go, ‘Oh, mate, you have a go and I’ll try and chase that.’

“It’s split[-second] decisions, and I get the player welfare scenario, but I think there needs to be a discussion on different scenarios compared to what Nepo Laulala had done and what happened with the Slipper incident as well.”

Bates agreed with Muliaina’s stance as he disapproved of comments made by the referee that sent Clarke off, James Doleman, in which he said the wing was never in a realistic position to charge the ball down.

“I think the Caleb one is a grey one. I’m not saying it’s right what happened, but one thing I do know is that, on the field, one of the things said by the referee was, ‘You were never in a realistic opportunity to catch the ball,'” Bates said.

“I disagree. If you look at the thing, he misses it by about that much, so if he catches the ball, he runs 100 metres – the same thing happens, there’s still a player on the ground and he runs 100 metres – is that still a red card?”

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Despite the views of Muliaina and Bates, Semple held firm on her stance on Clarke’s dismissal, saying it was no different to the red card ex-Ireland No 8 CJ Stander received for colliding into the head of former Springboks pivot Pat Lambie in 2016.

“To me, this is exactly the same. This is a player not jumping into the line of where the leg is and where the kick’s coming from, but it’s directly into a player and directly into someone’s head,” the 2017 World Cup winner said.

“I get that the Caleb situation is different because of the angles and where he’s jumping from, but if the outcome, to me, is going to be that you’re making contact with the head, regardless if you’re going for the ball or not, that’s an infringement.”

Although he labelled the concussions sustained by Alosio and Lambie as “absolutely horrific” and “the worst possible outcome”, Muliaina reinforced his concerns that referees were officiating based on the outcomes of those plays.

“… You’re not going in to a charge down going, ‘Oh man, I’ve got to think about the player welfare of the person,’” Muliaina told The Breakdown.

“What worries me is if someone goes down and they’re not injured, all of a sudden the referees are now refereeing based on the outcome. That’s where the grey area comes.

“There needs to be a really good discussion about how that works in terms of a charge down because the last thing we want is a guy going, ‘Have a free ride because I’m not going to be able to contest for that.’”

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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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john 9 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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Adrian 11 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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