World Rugby: Ref had two options
World Rugby has moved to ‘‘reconfirm’’ its guidelines in the wake of the outcry over the Benjamin Fall red card at Westpac Stadium last Saturday.
Australian referee Angus Gardner told the French fullback he had ‘‘no choice’’ but to send him off, after he flipped All Black No 10 Beauden Barrett in the 12th minute.
World Rugby has indicated that Gardner in fact had two options, in a statement pointing to its 2016 guidelines:
❚ If a player is not in a realistic position to gather the ball, there is contact and their opponent lands on their back or side – Yellow card
❚ If a player is not in a realistic position to gather the ball, there is reckless or deliberate foul play and the player lands in a dangerous position – Red card
Gardner sent off Fall for breaching Law 9.17, which covers: ‘‘for tackling, charging, pulling, pushing or grasping an opponent whose feet were off the ground’’.
But days after France lost the test 26-13, a World Rugby committee revoked the red card, saying its viewing of video footage had determined All Blacks centre Anton Lienert-Brown had hindered Fall, who had no time to self-correct.
Fall has been named at fullback for the third test in Dunedin tomorrow.
In the wake of that decision World Rugby were accused of not standing by Gardner, and over-ruling what had been a correct decision.
Rugby Australia yesterday came out in staunch defence of a ‘‘confused’’ Gardner, demanding clarity from World Rugby. Hours later World Rugby issued its own statement, hinting at some frustration with the way the controversy had escalated.
‘‘World Rugby would like to reconfirm the guidelines employed by match officials and the judicial process relating to challenges in the air, following public and media commentary during the June tests,’’ it said.
The 2016 guidelines deal with when two players are challenging for a ball in the air and were ‘‘designed to give clarity and alignment regarding the red card threshold,’’ World Rugby said.
‘‘A player having eyes on the ball is not by itself a mitigating factor when the match officials are determining whether potential foul play has been committed. The primary considerations is whether both players were in a realistic position to regather the ball.
‘‘In respect of the red card issued to Benjamin Fall during the New Zealand versus France match on June 16, the match official team followed the guideline correctly and made a decision based on the available camera angles.
‘‘Only during the subsequent review by an independent judicial panel, when additional camera angles were made available, was it determined that Benjamin Fall was knocked off balance immediately prior to the challenge and therefore the red card was dismissed.’’
On Monday, Fall’s red card was dismissed, with World Rugby saying that on the balance of probability ‘‘the referee’s decision to issue the red card was wrong’’.