Former Test referee Owen Doyle insists that player safety, rather than the game\u2019s spectacle, should be World Rugby\u2019s primary concern with the sport split on how dangerous play should be punished.<\/b><\/p>\n
While the southern hemisphere have clamoured for the 20-minute red card, and duly got their wish with it going to a global trial, the north have been more reluctant to change.<\/p>\n
Its critics, which has included the unions from Ireland and France, state that it could hinder player welfare.<\/p>\n
Current World Rugby<\/a> chair Brett Robinson is a fan of the sanction, however, and bemoaned the fact it took \u201ca lot longer\u201d than anticipated to introduce it due to the reluctance in the northern hemisphere.<\/p>\n Robinson suggested they needed to \u201cbetter understand it\u201d, but Doyle claims that is not the case.<\/p>\n \u2018Must be central to World Rugby\u2019s thinking\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cRobinson says the \u2018north\u2019 have been slow to adopt the bunker system due to a lack of understanding. But it\u2019s actually nothing to do with understanding, it is all about player safety and welfare,\u201d he wrote in his Irish Times<\/a> column.<\/p>\n \u201cThose who oppose the 20-minute red card are completely genuine in their conviction that the referee should be allowed to issue a permanent straight red.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd not just for egregious violence such as head butts, testicle-twisting and eye-gouging, all of which have made ugly appearances recently.<\/p>\n \u201cConcerned unions know that unlawful dangerous collisions, concussions and dementia are ever present and that the avoidance of brain trauma must be central to World Rugby\u2019s thinking. If it is not, the sport has a terribly serious problem.\u201d<\/p>\n World Rugby boss bemoans \u2018hemispheric\u2019 cultural problem after the north \u2018frustratingly\u2019 stalled 20-minute red card<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n While the 20-minute red card is now being trialled globally, Doyle is not sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to its implementation, including the officials.<\/p>\n A straight red can still be dished out if an incident is deemed serious enough and that was demonstrated when three Springboks<\/a> players were sent-off in the November internationals.<\/p>\n Lood de Jager<\/a> was one of the players to be dismissed but Doyle felt Australian Angus Gardner was only going to issue a yellow before his assistants intervened.<\/p>\n Difference of opinion<\/p>\n \u201cRobinson refers to the differences as being \u2018hemispheric\u2019 and he\u2019s right,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the recent match between France and South Africa match it appeared that referee Angus Gardner was reaching for a yellow card for Lood de Jager\u2019s head-high assault on France\u2019s Thomas Ramos. However, having consulted his \u2018northern\u2019 assistants, Gardner delivered a straight red.<\/p>\n \u201cIt points to a perturbing point of difference as to what kind of dangerous play deserves a straight red and what kind goes to the bunker.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hear lots of talk about balancing the spectacle of the game with player safety. If De Jager-like actions are only a 20-minute red card then the balance tilts completely to \u2018spectacle\u2019. That\u2019s a point of view, I suspect, which will be derided down south.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n