Thuggery is no longer part of rugby – and that is why 20-minute red card trial is here
Published 31 October 2024
When I pulled out a red card in the Rugby World Cup final to inform the New Zealand team that their captain, Sam Cane, would not be returning to the pitch, I knew it would be a decision that would be associated with me and Sam for the rest of our lives. When Cane came onto the pitch to shake my hand immediately following the final whistle, I could already sense the hurt and anguish in his eyes.
Lydia Thompson, the Red Roses winger, who had a barnstorming tournament up until the final, was also sent off in the World Cup final for a dangerous tackle just 18 minutes in. She has since talked of feeling complete blame for the loss and explained that when she came back home to England, she switched off her phone, logged out of social media and threw a bag containing her World Cup memorabilia – including her silver medal – in the loft. It was too much for her.
"Clear head on head, it's a reckless action... So it's a red card" 🟥
Add to those Rugby World Cup final red cards the 28th-minute dismissal of La Rochelle’s Levani Botia in the 2021 European Cup final, and the 21st minute exit for Beno Obano in last season’s Premiership final and you’ve got a pretty good sample size to show that these huge decisions are not just significant points in the game, but are also significant points in these players’ lives. As Cane put it immediately after the match in Paris, it would be a moment that he would have to “live with forever”.
Examples like those are one of the reasons why a 20-minute red card will be trialled during the Autumn Nations Series. Match officials will distinguish between deliberate acts of foul play and unintentional ones. No one who watched either World Cup final would say either Cane or Thompson intentionally tried to tackle their opponent high; they simply got their technique wrong, and were severely punished for that slight error in judgement. We are asking players to play the game at a higher speed than ever before, and under more fatigue, but we also ask them not to make mistakes more than ever.
For clarity, this is how it will work. If a referee decides an incident of foul play is so serious that a red card is required, but decides that the incident was not deliberate or intentional, then the offending player will be permanently removed from the match. But after 20 minutes that player will be replaced, and the team will be back to 15 players. It is still a substantial punishment, but 39 minutes less than Bath endured when Obano was red carded against Northampton at Twickenham, for example.