Tag: Tom Banks

Seeing Red

Seeing Red

If recent reports are to be believed, World Rugby are considering expanding the 20-minute red card to more competitions. If they do this, it will just show how out of touch the governing body is with the sport and how it is putting the spectacle before player safety.

So let’s take a step back first and look at what the law is. Much like football, if a player is red carded, they are immediately removed from the field of play and their team plays the remainder of the game with a player less. However under the new variation that is currently being trialled in Super Rugby Pacific, while the red carded player’s match is over, the team is allowed to bring on a replacement after 20 minutes.

So what’s happening in Super Rugby. Well I think the only appropriate word would be “mayhem”! It’s not much of an overstatement to say that the majority of games are seeing at least one red card, generally for dangerous play that included contact with the head.

Red cards are surely at an all-time high worldwide, with amendments to the laws in recent years that have been intended to make the game safer by reducing contact with the head. And yet despite the increased sanctions with the risk of a red card—and despite stories in the news of James “Cubby” Davies recently retiring due to a concussion, having not played since November 2020, and former players Steve Thompson and Alix Popham’s revelations that they now suffer from early-onset dementia—players appear to be unwilling or incapable of adapting to the new laws.

The red card is meant to be a deterrent, a punishment to encourage better behaviour, but it has clearly not been enough and the arrival of a 20-minute red card is even less of a punishment, so it is no surprise to see Super Rugby matches turning into a contest of “who can crack a man’s skull open first?” And the reason that this 20-minute red card is being considered: because there is a group of people out there—unfortunately fuelled by a number of so-called “experts” in the media—who complain that red cards ruin the game. Newsflash: they don’t. What ruins the game is players suffering avoidable injuries.

So what should be done?

Well first of all, the 20-minute red card should be scrapped altogether rather than expanding. Current punishments are clearly not a sufficient deterrent, so reducing them will just make things worse, as we are seeing in the Southern Hemisphere.

Secondly, the post-match disciplinary process needs a complete overhaul. As it stands, different offences have different minimum entry points depending on the severity of the offence, while extra weeks may be added for repeat offenders. However, this is all ruined by having weeks taken off for such rubbish as accepting the charge, remorse, attending a “tackle school”, good behaviour in the disciplinary hearing and a previously clean record. You just need to look at the recent case of Axel Müller, whose horror tackle started at a 10-week entry point but ended up being just a 5-week ban once everything was considered! I would argue that any reasons to reduce a ban are removed, while a financial impact also be brought in, with both club and player receiving a fine dependent on the severity of the incident and the disciplinary history that season, with the money being spread among grass-roots rugby and charities focused on head injuries and player welfare. If bans haven’t been enough to encourage better behaviour, perhaps losing money will give players the impetus to improve their technique, or give teams the reason to focus on improving technique.

In line with this, World Rugby needs to enforce more consistency across the board, both from match officials and disciplinary panels. While nobody could argue Hame Faiva’s red card in the Six Nations against Ireland, Ireland’s Ryan Baird escaped even a citing for exactly the same thing later in the match. English referee Karl Dickson is accruing a horribly long list of incidents that he has adjudged to be a yellow card or less, which have then resulted in a citing and the disciplinary panel deciding the incident worth of a red card. Meanwhile, some of the decisions of the judiciary panels SANZAAR have put together have been questionable to say the best, as a number of red cards have been overturned, including a horror shot from Tom Banks on Toni Pulu that rightly ended in a penalty try and red card, but also left the Brumbies fullback requiring facial surgery. You need consistency in order to set a precedent, otherwise players will be able to cite previous incidents where players have escaped punishment for the same offence.

Finally, there is a law that I thin needs changing and that is the one that if a maul becomes unplayable, the ball is turned over. Instead I feel that whichever team was the more dominant right before it became unplayable should get the scrum feed. The reason for this is that the law encourages players to go high for the “man and ball” challenge that holds the player up and creates a maul, leading to a turnover. Look back at England’s match against Ireland and Charlie Ewels’ early red card. England went for a number of high tackles in those opening minutes in an attempt to hold up the ball, and it was a combination of this and Ewels’ inability to adapt to the tackle laws that led to him getting an early shower.

World Rugby has a big decision to make regarding the 20-minute red card. I just hope that they make the right decision.

Super Rugby AU: Brumbies v Western Force

Super Rugby AU: Brumbies v Western Force

The final Friday match of 2020’s Super Rugby AU has been played and the first playoff spot is now confirmed following the Brumbies’ match against the Western Force in Canberra.

Without a win to their name in the competition, the Force were clear underdogs, but took the lead at GIO Stadium as a series of rucks on the Brumbies try line were finally converted by flanker Fergus Lee-Warner stretching out an arm as he was tackled short. The Brumbies had 2 tries disallowed in less than a minute of gametime, but scored shortly after as Tom Wright crossed in the corner. The Brumbies crossed again just before half time as Tom Banks’ arcing run beat Marcel Brache to the outside and just kept control of the ball on his way down despite Jack McGregor’s attempts to dislodge it, giving the Brumbies a 10-7 lead at the break.

Will Miller crossed in the corner soon after the restart, but Jono Lance managed to wriggle out of a tackle and make it to the line to keep the scoreline close. That was as close as the Force could get, though, and the Brumbies extended their lead as they flooded around the corner at the breakdown faster than the Force, creating a 7v2 overlap that Len Ikitau finished with ease. With just a couple of minutes left, Andy Muirhead just beat the defence to an Irae Simone grubber kick into the in-goal to secure the bonus point and a 31-14 win that guarantees them top spot in the table and home advantage in the final.

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Equality

This is a match that will be remembered for a historic reason. Amy Perrett, who had previously became the first female assistant referee in Super Rugby, had the honour of becoming the first woman to referee a Super Rugby match. And she looked very good doing so, much better than many of her male colleagues around the world who regularly referee top flight games.

Throughout the game, she was consistent in her decisions against both teams, and communicated extremely well with both her team of officials and also the players. With a performance like this, I hope we see her refereeing another match in the tournament before it’s all over!

The sad thing is that this is such a story in this day and age. Sara Cox became the first female to referee a Premiership Rugby Cup match in November 2018 and is about to become the first female official in a Premiership game as an assistant referee when Bath face Wasps on Monday. February 2018 saw Joy Neville become the first female to referee a Pro14 match (in the process becoming the first woman to referee a top-level men’s rugby union match in the UK). Neville also became the first woman to referee a European Rugby Challenge Cup match in December 2017, while just a couple of months earlier, Alhambra Nievas became the first woman to referee a men’s rugby union international in Europe, having become the first woman to officiate in a men’s rugby union international in November 2016.

Sadly these appointments are still somewhat of a rarity, while less talented men get the chance to officiate matches regularly. There is no reason that the role of a rugby union referee or official in the men’s game requires a male to do it. To me, the male and female officials should all have an equal chance of refereeing a men’s or women’s game, with the best officials getting the top games. Hopefully with this landmark moment for Amy Perrett, we are one step closer to that.

Stepping up

With the Wallabies having a new head coach and a number of internationals having retired or moved on following the World Cup, Super Rugby AU is an opportunity for a number of players to put their hands up for international selection. One of thse you would ahve expected to be doing so is fullback Tom Banks, but he has had a largely quiet tournament… until today.

Maybe it has been tighter defences, maybe it is a relatively basic gameplan due to an inexperience fly half in Bayley Kuenzle, but Banks’ role in attack has been limited throughout the tournament, with many of his biggest inputs his penalties to touch that have given the forwards the position to set up a catch and drive.

He came alive in this match however, with 115 metres amassed off 12 carries – 43 more than the next person on the pitch. He looked sharper and also put himself in the position to exploit any match-ups, like with his try, where his arcing run was too fast for Marcel Brache.

On the performances so far in the competition, the 15 spot is up for grabs. With his big boot coming in handy in the kicking game, if he can build n this performance and show more of the same in Round 10 and the final, then Banks is in a great position to earn selection.

All in

With 7 losses from 7 games, next week’s match against the Melbourne Rebels is the Western Force’s only chance to avoid the whitewash. Their “home” loss to the Rebels in Super Time is still the closest they have come to a win, so they need to go all out to win this by making sure their best players are all on the field. So who would I pick if this was my choice?

Well the front row looks pretty settled with Pek Cowan, Andrew Ready and Kieran Longbottom starting (unless Greg Holmes is back from injury) and Chris Heiberg, Feleti Kaitu’u and Tom Sheminant on the bench. Jeremy Thrush is a guaranteed starter in the second row, and I would partner him with Fergus Lee-Warner, who has excelled at 5 or 6, as this then allows for all 3 of Henry Stowers, Kane Koteca and Brynard Stander to start i the back row. The lock and back row positions on the bench could then be filled by Ollie Atkins and Tevin Ferris.

Moving onto the backs, captain Ian Prior and Jono Lance have the 9 and 10 positions secured. Byron Ralston is the best winger in the squad by a mile, while Jack McGregor holds the fullback spot to act as a second playmaker. Chris Godwin and Richard Kahui have been key to the Force’s improvement and I would have looked to keep them as my centre pair, but a strong performance today from Henry Taefu – who used his physicality to great effect in both attack and defence – has earned him the 12 shirt, with Kahui at 13 and Chris Godwin on the wing. On the bench, Nick Frisby provides experience at 9, Jake Strachan can come on at 15 in place of either lance or McGregor, while Marcel Brache gets the final spot over Brad Lacey due to his ability to cover both the centre and wing.

Is that a team that can beat the Rebels? It’s certainly got a shot.

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