‘Tis clearly the season for cards, English joy and fan banned : PlanetRugby

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the remarkable inconsistency of the cards, the trend of performance in Europe, and the disappointing actions in Munster…

Not all Christmas cards welcome

On a weekend of action when rugby, for the most part, did a fine job of reminding the public how good it can be, it also gave a couple of stark reminders that parts of the game remain a building site, while other parts still need some care and attention.

The rash of cards over the weekend – 14 yellows and one red in 12 matches, with only two matches ‘clean’ – frequently had material effects on their games, and were just as frequently difficult to explain, or certainly relativise.

Toulon fans especially must have been forgiven for wondering what more Brian Alainu’uese needed to do not to get a card, despite stooping to his own waist level into the tackle on Tom Wyatt. Wyatt, 20cm shorter than Alainu’uese, was already low going into the tackle, giving the big Samoan lock a target starting at least half a metre lower than he stands in his socks and continuing downwards. So his shoulder hit Wyatt’s head because he did adopt a reasonable tackle position; the irony being that had he stood upright, as we’re all told is a hideous crime to do these days, Wyatt might well have head-butted his solar plexus.

And yet later, that self-same Wyatt breaks through and is being tackled from behind when he runs smack into Toulon fly-half Enzo Herve, who did not stoop, did not open arms to wrap, and turned side-on to receive the contact, which was clearly to Wyatt’s head. Nothing. Not even a TMO look, not even a whisper from the referee. Where’s the consistency? Still noticeably absent.

Billy Vunipola’s red card for a wild lunge over the top was probably merited simply for the idiocy and poor technique alone, yet he was by no means the only player to find himself cleaning thin air, or close to thin air, on the other side of rucks.

???? “Bonkers decision, glancing blow.”

???? Billy Vunipola red-carded after ‘reckless’ clear-out against Bulls. #InvestecChampionsCuphttps://t.co/WXEWXCt3TGhttps://t.co/WXEWXCt3TG

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) December 9, 2023

It seems a new tactic has emerged for defenders behind a ruck: stand there until someone charges in to clean you out, step smartly to one side as the clean comes in and then smirk expectantly at the referee in the hope of a penalty for going off your feet. Referees are, by and large, not buying it, letting defenders know that they were seen taking evasive action, yet it ends up with actions from cleaners not worlds away from Vunipola’s.

But back to that Toulon-Exeter clash which, on a crumbly pitch and in which both sides were determined to win the game with muscle rather than guile.

We send a player to cool off for 10 minutes for what amounts to little more than being several inches taller than his opponent, resulting in head contact. And for the other 79…