That's over the top tbh, he'd basically already served a game with the card coming so early and while the tackle was reckless and stupid, it wasn't malicious. I do think the media reaction plays a huge part in these decisions from World Rugby though, seems like the more the home media complain about the decision the harder they try to drive it home.
It would be nice if it came down to who was 9th in the rankings say, the year before the tournament and not who was 9th when tutankhamen was still ruling ancient Egypt though.It happens each time - it typically comes down to who is 9th in the rankings. I think a few years ago, Argentina were the team who distorted a group.
It does at least seem that the gaps between matches aren't being complained about after previous tournaments saw some (lower ranked, shock!) teams had very short turnarounds vs teams with far longer breaks.
Of course but it's also the mindset around refereeing decisions within the sport itself. Take the decision on the chin and admit fault? OK, lesson learned, minimal ban. woman and moan and attack the officials (Curry didn't, but the England setup and media had plenty to say)? Obviously the lesson hasn't been learned yet, time to drive it home.I think it's more them putting down a marker for the tournament.
How early would a sending off need to be to count as one of the matches? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? It's far better for consistency to do what they've done.
I thought Gardner was excellent in a tough game.I'm inclined to think that if the refs of the Ireland and Italy games hadn't had good days, then there was something very wrong. The Georgian who did the Ireland game is very young for a ref and also expected to go onto to be one of the very best.
I haven't seen Aus-Geo and Japan-Chile, but Gardner (SA-Sco) had a pig to ref.
Raynal in the Eng-Arg game wasn't bad, but did seem to take against Arg (as someone else said, after about 30 minutes with the scrum)
I’ve liked that post but I’d rather no northern hemisphere team win if it’s not England.There seems to be a lot of split second incidents. The commentators lauded a “fantastic” ball dislodging tackle by Wales only for replays to show the Welsh defender smacked the Fijian on the chin with his shoulder. Borderline errors like they are understandable IMHO. Contrast that with the clear head on on head collision by the South African against Scotland. That really was poor by the officials.
I would like to see ITV drop Sam Warburton from their panel. He’s a boring fooker and was outspoken in helping to get Farrell banned. Bigger offences have gone unpunished in the opening days if the World Cup, with hardly a murmur from Warburton. He might’ve have accidentally done us a favour as Farrell isn’t contributing a lot these days.
Out of the big contenders, I am backing Ireland to win their first World Cup, That would be fitting for the best team in the world over recent seasons.
Of course but it's also the mindset around refereeing decisions within the sport itself. Take the decision on the chin and admit fault? OK, lesson learned, minimal ban. woman and moan and attack the officials (Curry didn't, but the England setup and media had plenty to say)? Obviously the lesson hasn't been learned yet, time to drive it home.
Think previous England red card offences played a part as well.
Very harsh on Curry tbf.
I thought Gardner was excellent in a tough game.
Yellow card remains a yellow card lol.Uruguay got the first try a bit like Romania against Ireland