BIGBADDON wrote:SW made the tackle took the player off his feet he started to lower the player then let go. Dangerous play. RED card. No arguments if but's or maybe's. The ref had one chance to see it SW let go in the tackle and dropped the player. RED card.
You know, until I actually saw the incident, this was the view I was taking; dangerous tackle, red card. A signal needs to be sent that this isn't acceptable to tackle dangerously. That said, I've looked at the incident this morning and I think it is harsh. It certainly looks a lot worse in super slow-motion but at live-action speed, it's almost innocuous. It should have been a yellow card and nothing more, I think - Warburton took the player up and didn't bring him down safely and should be penalised but there was no 'spear'; Warburton dropped the player, rather than forcing him towards the ground. I think there is a big differentiation there.
Consider, for example, Luke McLean's clothesline on Rob Kearney in Italy a few seasons back. Yellow card for, actually, a much worse and probably more dangerous tackle. I think this was an extreme decision. If there's an IRB directive, that's one thing but I think there's a distinction to be drawn between a dangerous tackle (Warburton) and a malicious tackle and that should differentiate between yellow and red. For me, Warburton's was definitely dangerous but not malicious.
Snipe Watson wrote:The laws are the laws Baggy irrespective of circumstances and should be applied without fear or favour.........you know that.
In complete agreement, Snipe. If this tackle wasn't acceptable after 70 minutes in a friendly against Romania, it's not acceptable after 19 minutes in a World Cup semi-final. The rules have to be applied, equally and evenly, regardless of the context. I'm not sure I agree with Roland's decision but I'm glad that he wasn't put off making that kind of decision because of the context of the game only being 20 minutes old or being a World Cup semi-final. It's good refereeing, in a way, even if it wasn't necessarily a good decision, if that makes sense?