New in-game system sees brutal yellow card incident upgraded to red

A yellow card for a brutal head-on-head collision during the Super Rugby Pacific match between the Queensland Reds and Brumbies on Friday was upgraded to a red following an in-game review.

Angus Blyth of the Reds was initially given a yellow card for his high tackle on Brumbies winger Corey Toole, but it was later upgraded to a red card.

It’s the second time the new system has seen a yellow carded graded in such a manner.

Blyth caught Toole high with a shocking tackle as the wing kicked forward early in the match.

Toole struggled to stand up after the hit, and referee Ben O’Keeffe had to tell him to sit down. He subsequently failed his head injury assessment.

O’Keeffe initially said it met the yellow card threshold and sent it for ‘review’. The subsequent review saw it upgraded to a red card.

Nasty hit on Toole ?

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It’s an example of a new system which is being employed by Super Rugby Pacific, in which referees are empowered to issue a yellow card to players for their misconduct, following which the Television Match Official (TMO) reviews the incident to determine if the punishment should be escalated to red.

The TMO has a window of eight minutes within which to finalise their judgment.

The first use of the system saw Hurricanes prop Tevita Mafileo banned for three weeks after an incident in a ruck was upgraded to a red card following review.