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'Beyond a joke' - Peyper opts for yellow again for 'reckless' collision
By Kim Ekin
A week on for receiving criticism for only issuing a yellow card in URC, Referee Jaco Peyper has once against opted for the lesser sanction, this time for a heavy collision during Wales and Ireland’s Six Nations game in Dublin.
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Peyper was pilloried for not red carding Craig Gilroy for a shocker of a tackle on Tom Rogers when overseeing Ulster’s match with Scarlets last weekend. A URC disciplinary panel has since deemed that it should have been red, and banned Gilroy for four weeks.
And again he was asked to oversee a questionable collision and again it has some fans questioning the logic, even if the collision was very different from Gilroy’s far more egregious effort a week previously.
Josh Adams and Ireland pivot Johnny Sexton both went to compete for a loose ball, with the Welsh centre’s shoulder appearing to collide with the Irish flyhalf’s head.
Ref mic picked up the exchange between Peyper and the TMO Stuart Terheege.
“Do you want to look at that, or is it both players going hard at the ball?” asks Jaco Peyper asked the TMO following the collision. “Play it real speed… he’s looking at the player, isn’t he? No intention to play the ball…
“He picks the player and drops the shoulder. Yellow card.”
After many, many, many video replays, Josh Adams is sinbinned for leading with the shoulder into Johnny Sexton. #IREvWAL #rtesport
? Live updates – https://t.co/AUQCX8pxw0
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? Watch – https://t.co/sDDUomkeEU pic.twitter.com/fZ8gE7xsXv— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) February 5, 2022
Peyper stuck to his guns, even with some Ireland fans baying for rouge.
Ireland, inevitably, made Wales pay, making the most of their temporary one-man advantage as patient build-up play finished with an unmarked Conway going over for his second touchdown.
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Sexton again added the extras, and Wales were now in damage-limitation mode, trailing 24-0.
Plenty of fans took exception to Peyper’s performance on Twitter. “So in Jaco Peyper’s view that is worthy of the same punishment as Craig Gilroy’s?!! The standard of refereeing is beyond a joke,” wrote one Tweeter.
So in Jaco Peyper's view that is worthy of the same punishment as Craig Gilroy's?!! The standard of refereeing is beyond a joke. #IREvWAL
— Matt Williams (@mattyw13) February 5, 2022
“Adams is very lucky Peyper doesn’t know his head, shoulders, knees and toes,” quipped another.
Adams is very lucky Peyper doesn't know his head, shoulders, knees and toes #IREvWAL pic.twitter.com/67KgyrNGYL
— Leo McArdle (@LeoMcArdle) February 5, 2022
Cardiff Rugby Life tweeted: “The only positive I can think for Wales is that we’re now only 40 minutes from not being refereed by Jaco Peyper again”.
The only positive I can think for Wales is that we’re now only 40 minutes from not being refereed by Jaco Peyper again #IREvWAL
— Cardiff Rugby Life (@CardiffRugbyWeb) February 5, 2022
Saw a few head knocks but host broadcaster did marvelous job...hope they are consistent with all matches not just 6N.