Kalamafoni gets Young backing over sending-off

CARDIFF boss Dai Young hopes Scarlets No. 8 Sione Kalamafoni avoids a lengthy ban for his red card during Saturday night’s derby match.

Kalamafoni will be up in front of a disciplinary panel this week after he was sent off in the 44th minute of the 35-20 victory over the Arms Park side for a high tackle on Gwilym Bradley.

It was a significant collision with both players going at full speed, although camera angles shown inside the stadium felt a little obscured.

However, referee Tual Trainini was confident he’d seen clear head contact and sent the home back-rower to the changing rooms.

If anything, it seemed to galvanise the home players and crowd and Dwayne Peel’s side finished stronger.

But they now risk losing a key player for a chunk of their run-in.

Cardiff director of rugby Young said: “Obviously we know that there is never any intent in these things.

“Things happen so quickly but by the letter of the law it’s probably a red card.

“Nobody wants to see people getting red cards, he’s not a dirty player and hopefully he doesn’t get a long ban.

“But you see them every game now, those type of tackles unfortunately do get a red card.”

Kalamafoni is likely looking at a six-week entry point for the offence, which will likely be at least halved for a previous clean record and provided he admits to foul play.

Scarlets boss Peel refused to comment.

Meanwhile, Wales international Josh Adams has suffered a knee ligament injury, casting doubt over the end of his season and possibly Wales’s summer tour to South Africa.

The lethal finisher suffered the injury late in Cardiff’s defeat to the Scarlets.

After carrying into contact, he stayed down as play moved on and looked in considerable discomfort. He tried to play on and looked distraught as he hobbled from the field with the help of a physio.

Young described it as ‘a little bit of a medial ligament strain’, but the extent of the damage will not be known until he gets a scan, which looks set to done at some point this week.

Losing the Hendy product would be a huge blow to Cardiff.

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac will also be eagerly awaiting the scan results with a daunting summer tour to take on the world champions looming large on the horizon.