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Red-carded Zack Holmes is given a European semi-finals lifeline

By Online Editors
Red-carded Zach Holmes was sent off just nine months ago in another European fixture (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Zack Holmes will be available for Toulouse’s Champions Cup semi-final in Dublin after a disciplinary hearing banned him for just one week following his red card in the quarter-final win at Racing 92.

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There had been fears that the Australian would receive a ban that would keep him out of his club’s huge game against defending champions Leinster.

However, while the committee at an independent disciplinary hearing in Paris upheld the red card decision, it found that the act of foul play was at the low end of World Rugby’s sanctions and selected two weeks as the appropriate entry point.

There were no aggravating factors and due to Holmes’s guilty plea and good disciplinary record, the committee reduced the sanction by one week before imposing a suspension of one week. As he was suspended pending the disciplinary hearing, Holmes is free to play immediately. Both the player and EPCR have the right to appeal the decision.

Holmes had been red-carded just 22 minutes into the quarter-final on March 31. The Toulouse out-half had initially appeared to have got away scot-free for his intervention near the half-way line on Racing winger Imhoff, referee Luke Pearce at first stating: “There has not been foul play on the tackle, so we can play on, correct? Okay.”

However, with the partisan Parisian crowd incensed after a video was shown on the La Defense stadium screen, Pearce changed his mind, called time off and opted to properly review the incident.

Here’s now Pearce’s assessment was reached during his red card conversation with  TMO Rowan Kitt…

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LP: You can totally understand why I want to have one more look at it. Okay, we are in no rush.

RK: I am going to show you a high tackle. I want you to look at his right arm. 

LP: Ok, there is no worries. Put it on the screen for me please.

RK: Yeah, it’s coming now.

LP: So Kitty, for me we definitely have foul play first to begin with.

RK: Yeah.

LP: So now we need to decipher because on the screen this looks bad, so I need to decipher if the Racing guy is falling to ground which would make it not a red card if he is not dipping. From what I am seeing on the screen it’s a shoulder to the neck of the Racing player.

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RK: Yeah, I agree with that.

LP: So can we have one more look at that just to make sure the guy is not dipping to ground which might bring it down? Let’s have a look, let’s just slow it down. So the point of contact by 10, I am not seeing anything mitigating. 

RK: It’s his right arm hitting first but there is shoulder into neck as well. 

LP: So listen, I am not seeing enough to mitigate this down to anything other than a red card. Is anyone else seeing anything different here? To the neck, with force, it’s a red card. Kitty, are we in agreement here? Anything to add?

Pearce then moved back towards the players, holding a meeting with Holmes that also had Toulouse skipper Jerome Kaino and Racing captain Dimitri Szarzewski in attendance. 

LP: Okay, so No10 please. Just let me explain. We had another look on the screen, you have tackled him high, there aren’t any mitigating factors and your shoulder has gone straight into his neck. That’s a red card.  

It was Holmes’ first red card in his career and there was sympathy as he walked towards the touchline, the Toulouse No10 receiving a couple of sympathetic handshakes from Racing players including the high-tackled Imhoff.

The distraught Australian ultimately had the last laugh, though, his team rallying to find a way to still win despite being a man down.

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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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