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'Should be a red': Owens' very different take on the Porter yellow

(Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Retired centurion referee Nigel Owens has disagreed with last Saturday’s decision to only yellow card Andrew Porter for his head-on-head contact with Brodie Retallick in the Test series-clinching win by Ireland over the All Blacks in Wellington. Retallick was left with a fractured jaw, meaning he will miss most of the upcoming Rugby Championship, while Porter missed just ten minutes of the match that rounded off the three-game series that had witnessed a red card the previous week. 

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All Blacks prop Angus Ta’avao was red carded for his head-high connection with Garry Ringrose in Dunedin and was subsequently banned for three matches. Porter, though, didn’t pick up any suspension as his citing for the yellow-carded tackle the following week didn’t meet the red card threshold. 

It’s something that the now retired Owens didn’t agree with and he said so on this week’s episode of Whistle Watch, his weekly series reviewing the goings-on in the rugby world. “Andrew Porter’s potential red card, very interesting one here,” he said broaching the controversy that stemmed from the decision taken by match referee Wayne Barnes. 

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“If you remember back last week we spoke about the red card in the New Zealand game where Ringrose steps inside and he [Ta’avao] reacts in less than half a second to try and adjust his tackle height and fails to do so. Under the current guidelines, he was correctly sent off by Jaco Peyper. 

“Now what we have this week with Porter is very different. Porter is upright, he has all the time in the world now to change his body angle, to get his tackle height low and chooses not to. There is nothing wrong with that but when you get it wrong, when you make that head contact as he did, it should be a red card. When players have time to adjust they really need to adjust and get the tackle down for the safety of the game, the opposition player and themselves as well.”

It was Tuesday when the citing against Porter was dismissed, a World Rugby statement reading: “The player admitted that he committed an act of foul play but maintained that the red card threshold had not been met and that the yellow card issued at the time by the match officials was correct in the circumstances.

“Having considered all the evidence, the independent committee applied World Rugby’s head contact process and agreed with the match officials’ on-field decision that the player’s act of foul play for a breach of law 9.13 did not meet the red card threshold due to the absorbing nature of the tackle. On that basis, the independent committee deemed the act of foul play did not merit further sanction, and the citing complaint was dismissed.”

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2 Comments
M
Michael 853 days ago

It was a red card or both were yellow - WORLD RUGBY and these judiciary groups are a farce

t
tedatsea 854 days ago

Spot on there Nigel Owens. Porter had the time to adjust his tackle height and didn't causing a head clash.

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JW 10 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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