Red-card rule trial shows it could work

WE’VE all seen that game where an exciting contest was ruined by a player being red-carded, leaving fans robbed of an exhilarating fixture and annoyingly muttering “this would’ve been a great one if so-and-so weren’t a man down”.

That is due to red cards – the one thing in rugby that causes more confusion and frustration than some of the referees who dish them out.

There might be those who believe that players and their teams must be severely punished for whatever infringements they are guilty of. And that’s not wrong. It’s completely fair that the infringing player be punished. But to punish an entire team for one man’s error doesn’t seem like the best way to keep the competition… well, competitive.

Of course, if a player engages in dangerous play and jeopardises another’s safety, he needs to be dealt with. But I don’t think sending him off the field and leaving his team with 14 men for the remainder of the match is the best way to do that.

Yes, you can argue that a team is exactly that; a team. And that if one of them does anything wrong (deserving of a red card), then the rest of the team just have to deal with the consequences of the actions of one of their mates.

But I just don’t think that is conducive to a good sporting contest.

And that is exactly why I think the new Varsity Cup red-card rule is one that should be implemented at all levels.

The red-card rule, one of a few new rules implemented this year by Varsity Sports, who have been experimenting with innovative rules and new law implementation since the competition’s inception in 2008.

The rule works as follows: if a red card is given to a player, that player will leave the field and his team will play one player down for 20 minutes. After that period, the affected team are allowed to bring on another player... anyone but the player who received the red card.

The rule allows the guilty player to be punished by not being allowed to play in that match again, while his team play with one less player for only a quarter of the game.

But it doesn’t, at all, let teams “get off easy” after one of their players has been red-carded – they still spend a quarter of the match one man down, and since the player who was sent off cannot return to the pitch, they might have to spend the remainder of the match without a key player, even though they can field a different player after 20 minutes.

This new rule impacts the infringing player, to some extent – more than it does the team (unless the offending player was their try-scoring master or never-misses-a-kick pivot).

It’s more fair and it makes things more even after a while, so that the rest of the game won’t be a 15-on-14 situation.

The new rule was on display on Monday, when Ikeys hosted CUT in the second round of the competition. Ikeys won the match 21-12, despite the fact that skipper Jason Klaasen was red-carded for a dangerous tackle on CUT left wing Tiisetso Madonsela.

UCT held on firmly on either side of the break being a man down and fielded a different player 20 minutes later – allowing the match to return to a fair one, which allowed the men from Cape Town to secure a much-needed win.

I think Varsity Cup’s red-card rule is a change that all levels of rugby can do with because sometimes, just sometimes, red cards end a game even before half-time.