Peter Burke
World Rugby announced that they were changing or amending 3 Law changes that will come into effect from July 1st this year – One explanation for this tinkering is as such: “seeks to increase rugby’s accessibility and relevance among a broader, younger fanbase by embracing on-field innovation and reimagined presentation of the sport with compelling storytelling” – a brilliant piece of written work by the World Rugby copywriting intern, like what the hell does that mean as it certainly didn’t emanate from Bill Beaumonts mouth.
However the most contentious Law change was the 20 minute red card that fans and supporters have vocally objected to. The crux of it is this – “Twenty-minute red cards, whereby the offending player can be replaced after that period of 20 mins by a substitute rather than one team being at a player disadvantage for the remaining time period of the game.”
Bill Beaumont – “Personally, I believe that the law amendments and suite of closed trials will add to the entertainment factor. As with all trials, we will comprehensively review their effectiveness and take feedback from across the game. The revised red card sanction process is such an example, and it is important that we trial, assess and make definitive decisions based on data and feedback.”
I don’t think Bill knows what hes at these days nor does he listen to what the fans want considering himself and his board members are trying to speed up the game and make it safer, so how is a 20 minute red card going to improve player safety, well the short answer is it won’t and Bill is incredibly naive if he thinks this.
Ok so lets look at this scenario – One of the most important thing in the modern game is the bench and more often than not decides games so this change will have massive repercussions on the makeup of the bench no team could afford to go 6/2 or 7/1 if say you have a player like Ardie Savea and conversely a team with a 5/3 split with a player like Gibson-Park or Ntmack/Dupont opposing coaches will target specific players and the bench then becomes massively impacted as tactically teams are forced to amend tactics the whole thing is complete lunacy.
Another example – The home rematch vs NZ after Irelands first win in Chicago in 2016 was another game of head shots and dodgy tackles. There were a lot of head shots which resulted in Ireland having three players taken off injured with New Zealand getting one yellow card for Fekitoa. Sam Cane somehow managed to escape punishment for a horrible shoulder to head tackle that knocked Robbie Henshaw out cold. It’s very irresponsible of World Rugby to lessen the impact of red cards.
Ireland vs New Zealand All Blacks
Ireland’s Conor Murray celebrates Robbie Henshaw’s try
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Player welfare, it would appear, is not on World Rugbys’ agenda and this decision is farcical and unwanted, time for Bill and his cohorts to resign.