Steve Hansen fears tackle red cards could swing World Cup knockout games
Steve Hansen fears matches in the World Cup knockout stages could swing on a red card for a high or dangerous challenge, but he believes it would be a price worth paying to lower the height of tackles.
The New Zealand head coach saw two of his props sent to the sin-bin for making contact with the head of an opponent who was low to the ground during the victory against Namibia on Sunday, while Australia received two yellow cards for high tackles in the opening half of their victory against Uruguay the previous day.
Argentina’s World Cup hopes all but ended when their Leicester-bound second-row Tomás Lavanini was sent off for a high hit against Owen Farrell 17 minutes in against England. It was the fourth successive red shown in the World Cup while the Samoa wing Ed Fidow was also sent off after receiving two yellow cards. Seventeen players have been sent to the sin-bin in the 28 matches played, most for tackle offences, with World Rugby warning that the only way the proportion will be reduced is if players aim lower.
“I do not know whether breaching the guidelines is avoidable, but we have to find a way,” Hansen said. “Under the guidelines, the yellow cards we received against Namibia were fair, but it is incredibly difficult when players are falling at your feet.
“There are certain things we have to make sure we do: you cannot have an arm behind your shoulder, because it looks like you’re swinging an arm, and you have to be able to recognise how quickly a ball-carrier is falling, being able to pull out of a tackle or do it differently.” Asked whether he felt it was inevitable that a big game in the tournament would be decided by a high-tackle call he replied: “I’d say so, but we all know what the guidelines are and we have to work harder. There is no point moaning about it, it’s about accepting and getting on with it. That means allocating time in training.
“Our game is about intimidation; some people might not want to hear that but that’s a fact. It’s about me dominating you and you do that through intimidating, legally not illegally. It’s a physical game, always has been and always will be, one of the components that the players and fans enjoy.
“A couple of people have been very seriously injured in tackles and in some cases actually passed away, so you’re not leading if you’re not looking at that and World Rugby are meant to be leaders of the game so they’ve looked at it and decided this is the way to go.
“There’s still a lot of people getting concussed who are actually making the tackle as opposed to being the ball-carrier, so we are in a pattern of trying to fix a problem. Have we got it 100% right? No. But it is what they’ve asked us to do and as keepers, players and coaches of the game, then we’ve got a responsibility to try to respond to that and do it the best we can. I think you always find a balance.”
Japan are one of eight teams here who have yet to receive a card of either colour. They are preparing for the biggest match in their history on Sunday when they face Scotland in Yokohama. Victory or a draw would take the hosts into the knockout stage for the first time and they could go through in defeat if they secured a bonus point and their opponents, who face Russia on Wednesday, did not.
“The Japanese give everything and respect everything,” the Tonga-born second-row Uwe Helu said. “They have the fighting spirit the samurai had – it is a model a squad that belongs to one culture would like to follow.”