Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Johan Grobbelaar handed Springboks lifeline before squad announcement

Referee Federico Vedovelli shows Johan Grobbelaar of Vodacom Bulls a red card during the United Rugby Championship match between the Scarlets and Vodacom Bulls at Parc y Scarlets on October 18, 2024 in Llanelli, Wales. (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)

For the second successive week in the United Rugby Championship, the Bulls had a red card rescinded.

ADVERTISEMENT

rugby365 confirmed that the red card issued against replacement hooker Johan Grobbelaar – for a high tackle on Scarlets prop Marnus van der Merwe in the 67th minute of the 22-23 loss in Llanelli last Friday – has been ‘downgraded’ to a yellow card.

The formal announcement from the URC will follow later, but Grobbelaar is free to play.

And he will most likely be named in the Springbok year-end tour squad, to be announced on Tuesday.

Video Spacer

Louis Rees-Zammit – Walk the Talk trailer | RPTV

Wales try-scoring wizard Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for an exclusive chat about life in the NFL. Watch the full show on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

Video Spacer

Louis Rees-Zammit – Walk the Talk trailer | RPTV

Wales try-scoring wizard Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for an exclusive chat about life in the NFL. Watch the full show on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

The previous weekend, in a 29-19 win against the Ospreys, David Kriel received a red card for a hand-off, but it was rescinded.

Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White, in the wake of the Grobbelaar card, made it clear he was ready to defend his player.

Fixture
United Rugby Championship
Benetton
15 - 17
Full-time
Bulls
All Stats and Data

“The bottom line is that I don’t think that was a red card,” White told reporters after Friday’s defeat.

“I think there were circumstances, which I am not going to share with you [media].

ADVERTISEMENT

“If it’s malicious, off the ball and it’s genuinely a red card, then we must never take that away from rugby. There is no place in rugby for that.

“The red card was put there for that exact reason because it’s dirty and malicious and premeditated.

“The red card wasn’t put in place for rugby incidents to take place.

“If we say it’s a rugby incident, then it becomes very different to the outcome.

“If you start by asking if it was foul play, which is the way that it’s done then you are going to get a different outcome.”

White added: “I will look at that and I will fight for the player.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

TRENDING
TRENDING Scott Robertson explains Ethan de Groot's Ireland omission Razor explains Ethan de Groot's Ireland omission
Search