Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'How often do you get hands on a five-eighth at the bottom of a ruck?' - Thorn

Brad Thorn joined the list of the game’s luminaries to decry the decision to send off Sunwolf Ed Quirk, despite his team benefitting significantly from the decision.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Sunwolves continued their Australian tour in Queensland against the Reds looking to pick up their first win away from home for the season, while the Reds were simply looking to finish their season on a high.

However, the game was marred by a red card decision that has widely been described as ‘farcical’.

Referee Ben O’Keeffe changed the complexion of the game when he handed Ed Quirk a red card after ruling the Sunwolves flanker punched Reds first-five Hamish Stewart in the face at the bottom of a ruck.

Thorn slammed the red card shown to Quirk, labelling the alleged “closed fist” action as nothing more than a love tap.

“I suspect I sound like an old guy that’s going, ‘back in the day, blah blah blah’, but seriously, that’s not good for footy.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I’m sitting there, I’m the opposite coach and straight away, I’m up there just going, that’s no good. It just hurts the game.

“Far out, man. How hard did you have to work to find that?

The former All Blacks forward Thorn vehemently disagreed with the referee’s decision.

“For me, for a red card, it has to be something really big,” Thorn said.

“[Red cards] are for horrendous spear tackles, someone kicking someone on the ground, eye gouging horrendously or something – not love taps.”

“The five-eighth’s at the bottom of the ruck, the forward gives him a little facial. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?

ADVERTISEMENT

“Seriously. Come on, man. Come on. My sons do that in the backyard. It’s beautiful. Good on them.”

All Blacks and Hurricanes first-five Beauden Barrett also weighed in.

“It was a joke in my opinion,” Barrett told Newstalk ZB.

“They’ve [the referees] got to use common sense and there was certainly no force in that.

“Where’s the game going when we award red cards for little things like that?”

O’Keeffe’s ruling is justified by the lawbook, with World Rugby Law 10.4 stating that players must not strike an opponent.

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
Nickers 31 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

41 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith' Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith'
Search