Finn Russel red card

[northerntiger]

Yes, by the letter of the law it was. But, split seconds, you see a head coming to yours, instinctively you defend it. If the he hadn’t, it would have been a red the other way, it would have been a high tackle. I fully support protecting the players, but these decisions change matches. What do people think?

[TigerFeetSteve]

Yes, by the letter of the law it was. But, split seconds, you see a head coming to yours, instinctively you defend it. If the he hadn’t, it would have been a red the other way, it would have been a high tackle. I fully support protecting the players, but these decisions change matches. What do people think?

The problem he has is he deliberately switches the ball to the other hand so he can get the fend out, but never tucks the arm in, so there's always seperation, yes the french player was coming quite high, but he could have made the tackle round the chest. For me it was a soft red card but still a red card

[Nofrontteeth]

As said on another thread keep arm down get headbutt from the tackler and get a 'Banahan'.
Has the arm out, often hitting the face 'hand off' formally been banned?

Both players went over to each other and shook hands. Good rugby good sportsmanship bad officialdom

[Nofrontteeth]

As said on another thread keep arm down get headbutt from the tackler and get a 'Banahan'.
Has the arm out, often hitting the face 'hand off' formally been banned?

Both players went over to each other and shook hands. Good rugby good sportsmanship bad officialdom

[Dokie]

Hand off is fine, forearm isn’t.

The debate has gone around enormous circles on here. Please just understand and accept the game and the laws have moved on for the long term health of the players and because the players requested it.
In time, this debate will no longer exist because the tackling and contact norms will have changed.

[VernonAtrium]

A contact sport is trying to protect contestants' heads. A thankless task, but it is being attempted and we are witnessing the outcome. In my opinion, Dulin's tackle attempt on Russell could be seen as the equivalent of a football 'dive.' He was never going to stop Russell by going high himself, he got in behind Russell's hand and got a forearm in the throat for his poor tackling. Old school decision - poor tackle, get up or get off. Current decision - risk of head damage, RED CARD.

I was always taught to tackle a player's legs. Just a thought.

[northerntiger]

But that’s my point. The tackle coming in was high. If he hadn’t raised his forarm, it would probably have been a red the other way

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Another entry to the ever increasing file of Dull Red Cards this season.

[strawclearer]

A contact sport is trying to protect contestants' heads. A thankless task, but it is being attempted and we are witnessing the outcome. In my opinion, Dulin's tackle attempt on Russell could be seen as the equivalent of a football 'dive.' He was never going to stop Russell by going high himself, he got in behind Russell's hand and got a forearm in the throat for his poor tackling. Old school decision - poor tackle, get up or get off. Current decision - risk of head damage, RED CARD.

I was always taught to tackle a player's legs. Just a thought.

[My bold]

Exactly that. I was taught rugby at the same school as George Martin - clearly not as well or maybe loft was my problem - and our Welsh head coach's pet phrase was "He can't run without legs!" (Off-loads hadn't been invented in those days.) Those days may be returning.....

[sam16111986]

As said on another thread keep arm down get headbutt from the tackler and get a 'Banahan'.
Has the arm out, often hitting the face 'hand off' formally been banned?

Both players went over to each other and shook hands. Good rugby good sportsmanship bad officialdom

Dulin's head is level with Russell's chest the technique was poor because he's rushing across. Doesn't mean can shove a forearm into his throat. Handoff, the hint is in the title you need to use your hand. Russell's technique is as bad as Dulin's, you either lead with the shoulder or you hand off. Well actually Russell's technique is worse because it's illegal and makes contact with the head and as soon as you do that you're walking these days.

[RichieB]

I remember Dan Cole getting carded for similar a few years ago, so actually not that new. Can’t remember if it was yellow or red or who it was against, but I’m imagining a long galloping run cutting through the midfield, side-stepping the defence only to be met with a final defender close to the try line.

[wellstiger]

Old habits die hard. We've had years of tight fit shirts with very little grab effect. Therefore we have adapted to tackle high and hopefully dislodge ball.
We have all been taught to tackle the legs at school level. Then we get to club level and taught one to tackle high the other tackle low to bring down the OX.

Just gonna take time to loose the muscle memory and tackle low. inevitably drawing red cards along the way.
As we've heard no grey areas just mitigating factors.

[trendylfj]

Just watched it and he does put his forearm into the "throat" of Dulin and probably deserved the red but no contact with the head. What would have happened if he had put his open hand into the throat??? Is that a red now??? What would have happened if he had put his open hand into the face of Dulin???? It would have knocked Dulin's head back violently, is that a red now??? The answer to all my questions is probably yes - a red card. The heel of the hand is still a powerful "weapon" but is legal I believe.

[sam16111986]

Just watched it and he does put his forearm into the "throat" of Dulin and probably deserved the red but no contact with the head. What would have happened if he had put his open hand into the throat??? Is that a red now??? What would have happened if he had put his open hand into the face of Dulin???? It would have knocked Dulin's head back violently, is that a red now??? The answer to all my questions is probably yes - a red card. The heel of the hand is still a powerful "weapon" but is legal I believe.

Hand offs are legal ergo he is unlikely to get a yellow card let alone a red. It's an illegal act so it's foul play then in the laws the neck or throat counts as head. Foul play direct to head is a red card. Goes back to technique, hand off properly and you don't get carded.

The heel can be used as a weapon but generally you'd require some sort of stable base to apply power. Sprinting along and fending a side on tackle that's unlikely to be the case.

[Tiglon]

The law on hand offs:

A ball-carrier is permitted to hand off an opponent provided excessive force is not used.

Common sense really. The idea of a hand off is to push someone away so they can't tackle you, there should be relatively little force on impact. If you're smashing the heel of your hand as hard as you can into someone's face, or wildly slapping them round the chops, it's clearly not a hand off.

As RichieB says, this is nothing new, it's just being enforced a bit more enthusiastically.