Mismatch in height is not a mitigating circumstance. Mismatches happen all over the park - it is up to the tackler to do so safely.rumncoke wrote:Having watched it a few times there are mitigating circumstances -- the mismatch in height of the two players, ....
Which was the point I was making - if his arm guided the Irish player's arm upwards, it was presumably because there was contact to do that. It appeared to me that first contact was on the shoulder, not the neck as the officials maintained. I.E. (that being the case) it was a high tackle, but not deserving anything more than yellow at most. The fact that a disciplinary panel saw fit to not add any other sanction suggests to me they saw it the same way.rumncoke wrote:... the Australian player starts low and stays low , the Australian player turns his shoulder into the Irish player his arm seems to guide the Irish players arm upwards ...
Irrelevant - once contact has been made (wherever that may have been), it cannot be unmade. If it was dangerous, it was dangerous. If it wasn't dangerous, it wasn't dangerous. Pulling one's arm away quickly after the event won't change what has already happened.rumncoke wrote:... the Irish player quickly removes his arm after contact.
Really? That's a problem?rumncoke wrote:The problem was the referee had already penalised Australia twice for high tackles and my feeling was he felt he had to stop high contact ...
A referee who wants to stop high contact? Whatever will they think of next?
You're entitled to your opinion .. even if it is wrong.rumncoke wrote:To what extent the card influenced the result --in my opinion not to a great extent ....
15 v 14 will inevitably have an effect on any match with the 14 having to do far more work, and even if they maintain parity for a long time in the match, or close to it, the last 10-20 minutes are usually the killer. Remind me again when Australia finally broke down the Irish defence for the decisive scores ...