'It's not out of his job description' - Schalk Burger weighs in on Paul Willemse cards

France lock Paul Willemse has been suspended following his double sin-binning during France’s 38-17 loss to Ireland in the Six Nations opener in Marseilles on Friday night.

The South African-born second row, who missed the world cup due to injury, will be unavailable for both the Scotland and Italy upcoming tests after picking up a suspension.

Willemse was shown two yellow cards for foul play, the second of which was upgraded to a red following a disciplinary committee hearing on Tuesday.

Ireland Fans React to Record-Breaking Win Over France in the Six Nations 2024

Both Irish and French Fans react to Ireland beating France in Marseille in the opening round of the Six Nations 2024.

Ireland Fans React to Record-Breaking Win Over France in the Six Nations 2024

Both Irish and French Fans react to Ireland beating France in Marseille in the opening round of the Six Nations 2024.

“You’ve got to feel sorry for Paul. Because the first one, you can see what he’s doing,” commented Schalk Burger on the latest episode of RugbyPass TV’s Boks Office.

“If you’re a coach and your player’s going there and you’ve got the player and he turns his back, sort of, and you sort of place it there, the best time to hit him and get momentum is right at that time, instead of waiting for the ruck to form and then clean it.

“He makes head contact, it’s unlucky and then the second one we all know about this, the adjusted defender.

“Look, he’s a big unit and he comes in to put a big shot on [Caelan] Doris and I think it actually looks worse than it was.”

Hosting the popular South African based show, sitting alongside former Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, Hanyani Shimange questioned if a change in technique is required, saying: “It’s the risk. Is it worth even attempting that, rather go for the legs or bail out?”

De Villiers, who severely injured his knee just minutes into his debut against France in 2002, felt that some players are put in difficult positions.

“Is it worth making a tackle like that from a Willemse point of view? Everybody that’s seen him play, he’s the enforcer. You don’t want that out of his game, but how do you find a way to do it differently? Because that is the change in behaviour that World Rugby is looking for, in terms of if you’re in that situation, don’t go for that because of the risk of the head contact. And I suppose that’s the difficult thing.”

Burger added that Willemse was probably only following instructions and sticking to the role he’s been given.

“Also, it’s the second one (yellow card), so he would have been frustrated with the first one. Nothing of it is outside of his job description. He wants to hit rucks. We played with Bakkies (Botha). Bakkies hit the ball carrier and the defender. He took all of us out.

“Doris is one of their big carriers, [Shaun] Edwards would have said ‘You’ve got to shut down Doris’. He gets a carry… you want to put a big shot on him. I would have been in the same position to adjust and carry him back and unfortunately he hits him that much [too] high and he gets a yellow card. I don’t think it’s anything more than that.”

The French second row was given suspensions of four weeks and three weeks for the offences, to run concurrently, meaning a ban of four weeks.

The disciplinary committee found his actions “reckless” but accepted “there was no evidence to suggest the player acted maliciously or with intent in either case”.

He can further reduce the ban to three weeks by applying to take part in World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme – the ‘tackle school’.

You can watch the full latest episode of Boks Office exclusively on Rugbypass TV

Six Nations

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Ireland

1

1

0

0

5

2

England

1

1

0

0

4

3

Scotland

1

1

0

0

4

4

Wales

1

0

1

0

2

5

Italy

1

0

1

0

1

6

France

1

0

1

0

0