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Sam Cane banned for Rugby World Cup final tackle
By Ian Cameron
New Zealand captain Sam Cane has been banned by a disciplinary committee for his dangerous Rugby World Cup final tackle on South African centre Jessie Kriel.
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Cane was yellow carded and then red carded on ‘Bunker’ review after tackling the Springboks centre high, contrary to law 9.13 (dangerous tackling) – in the All Blacks‘ 12-11 defeat at the Stade de France on October 28th.
It was the first ever red card handed out in a Men’s Rugby World Cup final.
Cane – who spoke of having to live with the incident for the rest of his life – recently announced he will be taking a sabbatical with Japanese club Suntory Sun Goliath. He will miss next year’s Super Rugby season as a result.
The 31-year-old appeared at the hearing over a zoom call today. The back row accepted a guilty plea in the case, accepting that he had committed an act of foul play but challenged the Foul Play Review Official’s decision that the act warranted a red card.
A World Rugby statement reads: “When applying World Rugby’s Head Contact Process there was no mitigation available to bring the degree of danger below the red card threshold. On that basis, and in considering the sanction, the independent committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in head contact (six matches). Taking all considerations into account, including the player’s exemplary disciplinary record, his early acknowledgement of foul play and his clear remorse, the independent Committee determined mitigation of three matches was appropriate.”
He will now miss Suntory’s first three Japan Rugby League One games against Toshiba, Panasonic and D-Rocks.
If Cane takes part in the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme, which he intends to, it will see the ban effectively go two games as he will substitute the final match of the sanction for a coaching intervention “aimed at modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play subject to successful completion”.
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The independent Disciplinary Committee was chaired by Adam Casselden SC (Australia), joined by former international player Becky Essex (England) and former international referee Donal Courtney (Ireland).
One LAST comment gentlemen.
Reference to scrum safety -
Have the hooker bind around & UNDER his props - props drape over the hooker. I did hook for 30 out of 35 years.
BEST REGARDS,
CHEERS MATE
I have seen ONE dangerous tackle - Pierre Hola ended
Al Charron's career.
More important is the fact that all you Southern Hemisphere paupers have to come up to the Northern Hemisphere to get fed. And the Northern Hemisphere has to stage these World Cups to make money to bail you out. Last 3 Wc’s (Eng/Jap/Fra) have only just replenished the empty coffers after that miserable 2011 NZ fiasco (NZ govt made good the loss but nothing over as profit). Now Oz will plunge RWC 2027 into another huge loss. Presumably their govt. will again pay off the loss but nothing over. So NH again has to put the books in the black afterwards. Useless…
Ridiculous comment.
Produce better players and you won’t need SH players to make your leagues interesting / competitive. Oz will lose money cuz it’s out in bumble
And what, you’re resentful of that?
You forgot to thank us for all our SH players that make your NH teams competitive… dont worry so much about the apparent empty coffers and try and get your teams past a QF not even to mention winning the cup!
Looking at AB dissipline, the most cards of the tournament, I think that we should also look at ourselves and our poor tackle technique. And we should apologise to the refs, They made the right calls as per the rules. Cane and Kolisi, both were reviewed and the results stayed the same. Cane red and Kolisi yellow. I do not agree with the rules, but it is what it is and we are complaining like Rassie did a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately we have the coach of the worst bunch of players coming in to lead the team. So i wouldn’t hold your breath their Willie
They say South Africa dropped to world number four now. Ref whingers rankings that is 😂
What a crock of shit
Totally agree with Timothy.
The whole game is really a “cold war” senerio, deception and deceit for passes, carries, rucks etc,etc. So inevitabley what was in my estimation a legitimate genuine error by Sam Cane who knows the rules AND sanctions should have at best been a yellow card. If you want a safe rugby then stop the existing game as we know it and go to TOUCH rugby, NO tackles, NO body contact.
Also stop scrums, necks have broken resulting in players paralysed from the next down, line outs stop those to.
Last of all, play to empty stadiums, it’s no longer a Spectator sport.🙏
That’s right David. A lot of the retaliatory commenters here can only think from the perspective of winning s game of rugby.
That type of tackle caused no concussion in Kriel, he got up and played on without any sign the doctors thought he should be checked for concussion. What are these strict laws for?
Cane could certainly have done a few things to avoid being sent off, like not used the arm or just have stood up straight and let his chin connect with his chest, but the big takeaway is that World Rugby need to find out what needs, and what doesn’t need to happen on the field.
The ball carrier knows where he is going ; he sets the pace ;
he can go High OR Low; left or right. The runner dictates the play. New tackle rules have forced the tackler into a position of immanent danger.
The ball carrier does have options to open up the game. Pass the ball OR kick it. Maybe look back into his forward support.
There is an old saying “Rugby is not for everybody “
Let's put the collars back on
the jersey and scrap all these
new tackle laws.
Well said. The majority of concussions are appearing in the tackler, not the ball carrier. If Cane had been lower he probably would have been the one collecting Kriels shoulder on his chin, and it would have been more dangerous as Kriel was the one providing the force in that tackle, as is of course common with runners.
I’m not sure what you do. I cant see how lowering the tackle height is going to make the defender safer. Cane needs a ball out option in that scenario, and I’m not sure there is one currently, which is why this ruling appears so strange. Perhaps stipulate upright tackles are immune to penalties as long as both hands make contact first? Maybe a scrag type safe for both parties.
Mainly i blame the ridiculousness of the Ruck and Maul laws for players wanting to head to ground ahead of the tackle. Actually the laws are OK (they say the carrier must be allowed to first play the ball, passing it or laying it back at the hindmost foot) it’s the interpretations that have come out of the bustle of the stodgy North they have become the problem with attacking teams so scared of playing with the ball and having to go into a tackle situation.
the only thing that lets your theory is that Kriel never lowered or raised hi head. Cain is as guilty as the devil. If that was a Bok player tackling all sh;t would have let loose
All the overnight TMO and tackle experts emerging out of New Zealand should apply for jobs at world rugby.
God help us.
Couldn’t spot a knock-on to save their lives though.
The same TMO did…
Another example of how pathetic World Rugby is. Something that warranted no more than a penalty became red card and now 2 match suspension. The lunatics really are in charge of the asylum.
the only thing that lets your theory is that Kriel never lowered or raised hi head. Cain is as guilty as the devil. If that was a Bok player tackling all sh;t would have let loose
Show how foolish the decision can be. What about the Siya Kolisi Head knock on Ardie which left Adie Savea with Nose Bleeding? Sometimes these guys bend these Rugby Laws to suit themselves or another when comes down to decision making. #Funny
jerk of a comment
Kolisi made shoulder on shoulder contact first, but yes that is arbitrary, like this ruling against Cane he simply wasnt low enough. Only a glancing contact though so a res card would have sufficed.
NZ were the worst disciplined team at the RWC tied with Romania on yellow cards and top team with the most red cards. Why don’t they teach their players how to tackle.
Jon….if you don't have anything intelligent to say…shut it mate
What is the chat about dirty AB play about? I've heard that the uniforms can disguise hands in the ruck or on the ground but I don't think you can sledge and get away w it in the modern game
I think a focus on defense is a poorly kept secret now. Felix Jones is headed to ENG so they will be good in a yr on D. Razor will make NZ better as well. I think Rassie needs to find a new trick on offense now. He has some awesome young talent in G Will, Mannie, Damien and Moodie. We need another power 12 beyond Handre
Oh. And the 10/12 okie from Cape Town. Not as big as DDA but I think he’s an option.
And Esterhuisen. At 29 he could be entering into his heyday with boks.
Felix is an offense not a defense coach.
With the backs we have, I’d love to see an emphasis on attack from Rassie. Who could he bring in to the team as a new offense coach to replace Felix?
I’m a big fan of Swys de Bruin. I wonder if he’d ever give it a go again?
Imagine him and Rassie and the stuff they could cook up together.
And that was my 1000th post. I wonder what Rugbypass will label me as now?
#Ultra Fan
#Too much time on his hands
#Not a productive employee
My humble view on our kiwi world cup campaign…. Close but no cigar... Did we get the rub of the green in the final? Probably not. Was that the decisive factor? Doubtful... Well done Spring boks… Bring on the razor era I say....
My rub off the green, which is the total opposite of how Whitelock and co felt after the loss, is that they were bloody fortunate to get there. So no big loss.
If 2020 was deleted, and every year shifted forward one, and they carried this form into the World Cup year, instead of finding it in the World Cup itself, I would be ripping World Rugby and their Team of Four a new one.
So no citing for vermeulen or kolisi for worse and similar offences respectively then. Anybody that still doubts that WR protects SA and wraps them in cotton wool is only fooling themselves.
Nigel you must be so tired of pleasing Jimmy in your clingrap, jump higher try harder all Saffas own you …
Ding ding ding! Dance, my little doggy!
Click….. <— I made you do that! 🤣