Is it time to bring in the Blue Card?
Following this weekend’s match between the Waratahs and the Sunwolves in Sydney, heat has once again come upon the referees and World Rugby to address the use and impact of red cards.
Semisi Masirewa was sent off minutes before halftime due to a “dangerous tackle” which resulted in Bernard Foley landing on his neck – though many felt the incident deserved a yellow card at worst. Coaches from both the Sunwolves and the Waratahs lamented the impact the red card had on the game, ruining any chance of a fair contest. Whilst the Waratahs ultimately won the match 77-25, their lead was only six points lead prior to Masirewa’s ejection. Masirewa has subsequently been banned for three matches, showing the increased importance being placed on the safety of players by SANZAAR (and, by extension, World Rugby).
Of course, this is not the first time a red card and resulted in a fair amount of public outcry – nor will it be the last. Benjamin Fall’s ejection from the second test match between New Zealand and France in June sparked huge debate regarding rugby’s punitive system as a whole, World Rugby’s selective vocalisation regarding on-field refereeing decisions and, once again, the rules concerning mid-air collisions. Whilst saying that game was ruined due to the red card may be a tad over-zealous (the poor quality of play by all involved was the cause of that), the contest between France and the All Blacks was certainly all but over before the even the first quarter had come to a close.
In fact, it’s becoming all too common for refereeing decisions to be the biggest discussion point coming out of professional matches. Whilst, more often than not, the referee has made the best decision on the day, this is rarely of little consolation to the punters – especially in the situation of a circumstantial red card. Rugby is a sport with many complex and technical rules, which means that referee discussion is always going to be fair game once the match is over, but it shouldn’t consistently be the dominating point in the post-match debate.
Red cards, by their very nature, eliminate any fairness in a game of rugby. There are times when this unfairness may be warranted – primarily when a player has committed an act of foul play. There are also times, however, where red cards are disproportionately punitive to the team who has incurred the card. Fall’s red card is just one example of this – his ‘carelessness’ caused his team to have their backs against the wall for the remainder of the match.
Rugby is a spectator sport, and whilst most spectators want to see penalties dealt out fairly, they also want to see tight, edge-of-your-seat contests between the two teams on show. This begs the question, are yellow and red cards sufficient to cover all disciplinary action in a rugby match?
Borrowing from the little-known sport of bandy, World Rugby could look at introducing a blue card to the game for circumstances where a yellow card is too lenient, but where issuing a red card could have a disproportionately hefty impact on the match as a whole, due to the actions of one player. Not be confused with the blue card which is currently doing the rounds in New Zealand rugby (given to a player who the referee has suspected has incurred a concussion), a blue card in bandy acts as a hybrid between the red and yellow cards of rugby.
In bandy, a blue carded player is ejected for the remainder of the game. However, after a ten-minute period the blue carded player can be replaced. This means that the team that receives the blue card will be a man down for only 10 minutes, but the blue carded player cannot return to the game even after the 10 minutes expire.
Every single player on the rugby field has very important roles to play in a match, and the impact of losing any one player is always going to be significant. Rugby is all about systems – on both attack and defence. Removing one of the wholly interdependent parts of this system can bring the whole thing crashing down. In football, a team can operate much the same when down a man, but this is not the case in rugby. Removing a player from the game permanently changes how a team has to operate, and this makes it very difficult to effectively compete when short a man.
As a team sport, it does make sense that the team as a whole is punished due to the actions of one player, but a red card can sometimes take this too far. In situations where a team is persistently infringing it may make sense for the team to be punished, but when one player commits an act of foul play you could make the argument that the team shouldn’t have to sacrifice their shot at winning just because of the careless individual’s actions.
The other major issue with red cards is that their impact is severely changed based on when the red card is dished out. A 65th-minute sending off is naturally going to be significantly less damaging to a team than a 10th-minute ejection. From game to game the effects of a red card can change dramatically, which means that the punishment is not uniform across the board.
A blue card would go some way to ensuring that a rugby match is not ruined due to one player’s mistake. The team the carded player represents may lose some traction in the ten minutes the player is off the field, but at least at the end of that period, both teams would be on square footing moving forward (and the infringing player is still punished). Arguably, more importantly, a fantastic contest is not ruined and a rugby match can continue to be a great spectacle even if one player does make a dreadful error.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
The better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances?
9 Go to commentsWith Stuart Lancaster at the helm, Racing 92 looks more and more a mercenaries club like Toulon some years ago and they are not even performing despite all the money on offer.
4 Go to commentsCouple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
9 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
5 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
4 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
4 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
4 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
4 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
4 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
200 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
9 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
9 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
200 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
200 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
5 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
200 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
5 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
9 Go to comments