Delaney has his say on TMO red-card call in Ulster
SCARLETS coach Glenn Delaney has addressed the controversial decision not to send off Ulster forward Kieran Treadwell after an incident with prop Javan Sebastian in Sunday evening’s Guinness PRO14 encounter in Belfast.
Treadwell received only a yellow card after Italian referee Andrea Piardi changed his mind following an intervention from Irish TMO Brian Macneice.
The home lock had connected with a shoulder to the face area of Sebastian as the front rower carried the ball forward. Sebastian subsequently failed a head injury assessment and had to leave the field, despite Macneice suggesting there’d been only “minimal force in the contact”.
The offence was later described on social media as rugby’s ‘reddest red card ever’.
Compounding the sense of injustice among Scarlets’ supporters, Treadwell went on to score a try that helped Ulster secure a 26-24 victory.
Delaney said: “The referee had made a call.
“The TMO came in and changed the mind on it.
“I guess whoever looks at these things will have a look at it. But Javan Sebastian failed a HIA, so if you’re looking for force there’s a guy who’s had to leave the field for the whole game because he’s been hit in the head.
“So, really unfortunate.”
The incident occured in the 16th minute, with Sebastian clearly jolted by the impact from the left shoulder of the 6ft 6in, 18st 6lb Treadwell. Referee Piardi initially appeared ready to dismiss Treadwell, saying while watching the incident on the big screen: “Based on what I’m seeing I’ve got a red card against five black.”
But Macneice then asked for the pictures to be shown again, in real time.
The television match official then said: “So, for me, the facts are correct.
“There’s minimal force in the contact.”
Piardi replied: “So we can bring down the red to yellow...?”
To which Macneice responded: “Correct.”
It didn’t look a great call at a time when there’s supposed to be heightened concern in rugby about player welfare and, in particular, about head injuries.
Premier Sports TV pundit Stephen Ferris, a former Ulster player, didn’t go along with colleague Tom Shanklin’s initial assessment – later changed – that “you could see why a yellow card has been given”.
Ferris said: “I can’t, Tom. I would probably disagree with you. It’s a shoulder to the head. He’s made no attempt to dip.”
Others piled in on social media, with one Twitter user raging at what he felt was a “scandalous decision”, while another said: “If that isn’t a red, rugby has problems.”
Dragons chairman David Buttress felt moved to comment, saying: “Not a good night watching rugby, don’t enjoy or want to see players being sent off, but talking a referee out of a dangerous tackle that looked a clear red is not a good look.
“I feel for @scarlets rugby, not right in my honest opinion.”
The Sunday Times rugby correspondent Stephen Jones called it “the reddest red card ever”.
The Scarlets had arrived in Belfast missing 26 players, a tally that went up to 27 when Sam Lousi failed a late fitness test, but they produced a battling display that could so easily have brought victory.
Delaney said of Treadwell: “I know Kieran. He’s a good clean player, a good and tough man. There’d be no malice from his side of things.”
But the odds would have been stacked against Ulster had they been forced to play for 64 minutes with only 14 men. Nonetheless, Delaney had plenty to be encouraged by.
“I’m immensely proud,” he said. “The effort was amazing and the players are gutted. They knew that they had the opportunity to win the game. It came down to fine margins, with an intercept try in there.
“They’ve come to one of the hardest places to play rugby in the world and they’ve performed well. It just wasn’t quite enough.”
The win maintained Ulster’s unbeaten start to the season, now extending to seven games.