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Ian Foster predicts Super Rugby Pacific's red card flurry to continue in test rugby

(Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

All Blacks coach Ian Foster expects the flurry of red cards seen in Super Rugby to continue in test matches this season and says his players will have to learn and modify their technique.

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Referees have taken a particularly hard line in Super Rugby Pacific on any action which results even inadvertently in contact with the head.

Red cards once were extremely infrequent in rugby and resorted to by referees only for the most serious incidents of foul play.

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When Sonny Bill Williams was sent from the field in the second test between the All Blacks and British and Irish Lions in 2017, he was the first All Blacks player to be red-carded in a test match for 50 years.

But few rounds in Super Rugby Pacific have passed this year without at least one player being sent off by a referee because of a red card. One round saw five red cards in six matches.

Speaking on Sky Television’s The Breakdown, Foster said red cards likely will also be abundant in test matches if players don’t adjust.

“It will have an impact at test level, no doubt about that,” Foster said. “We saw that in 2019 at the World Cup when this initiative really hit home.

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Referees “have certainly been ramping it up this year and we’ve got to learn.”

Foster said many red cards occur in collisions when a defensive player joins a situation when an initial tackle already has been made.

“You don’t see a lot of red cards for the tackler hitting the ball-carrier high,” he said. “The problem seems to be the tackle-assist. It’s the second guy coming in.

“I think it’s one of the things in the games in which defence coaches are trying to get two in the tackle to win that collision.

“It’s the second guy coming in who’s not making that late adjustment based on the body (height) change in the tackle.”

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Foster said coaches need to “think deeply” about whether it’s worth sending a second player into the tackle in some situations.

New Zealand will play Ireland in three tests in July, then take on Australia, Argentina and South Africa in the Rugby Championship before a northern hemisphere tour at the end of the year.

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1 Comment
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Jmann 942 days ago

RCs are an absolute scourge on the game. They should be used only for the most cynical and dangerously violent actions. The 20min RC is an excellent innovation from the SH - but better yet would be a 15min Orange Card for accidental head clashes and the RC for only the truly worst actions. Biting, Stomping, gouging, King hits etc...

They are ruining the game and almost all of the time they are for actions that happen at high speed and occur due to poor technique.

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TI 2 hours ago
All Blacks player ratings vs Italy | Autumn Nations Series

Rieko took literally years to turn from a defensive liability at 13 into a guy, who’s defensively sound as it befits the position. And it all came at the cost of him being much less of an offensive threat, than what he used to be. Proctor is a natural 13, he handles, passes, and kicks way better than Rieko ever will, he just isn’t as fast.


It’s unfair to judge Tupaea on the handful of games he’s had in 2022 before he got nearly crippled by a Wallaby lock. What could Tupaea/Proctor pairing be, if they got the same amount of chances as Jordie/Rieko?


Because no matter how you spin it, playing a player outside of his natural position is a poor asset management. No matter how talented he is, he still competes against players who had years and years of practice at the position. And if said guy is so talented that he actually CAN compete against specialists, imagine how much better still he could have been, if he had all those years to iron the toothing issues at the position. It just drives me mad.


Two things I hate in rugby union beyond description: aping after league, and playing players outside of their natural position. Especially considering, that they all admit they hate it, when they’re allowed to speak freely. Owen Farrell spent 80% of his international career at 12, saying every time when asked, that he is a 10 and prefers to play at 10. Those players are literally held at a gunpoint: play out of position, or no national jersey for you.

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