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Sir Steve Hansen isn't sure 'why the big onus is on red cards' in fight for player safety

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

All Blacks coaching great Sir Steve Hansen has offered his opinion on ways to improve the disciplinary system in rugby after Freddie Steward’s red card sparked outrage and debate throughout the rugby community.

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A red card to the English fullback in the final round of the Six Nations left the visiting English down a man for the second half, the sin-binning dampening the competitive tension of a hard-fought and championship-deciding match.

The card itself was controversial, while the play saw direct contact from Steward’s shoulder to Ireland fullback Hugo Keenan’s head, there were significant mitigating factors and an independent disciplinary committee, upon review, rescinded the red, claiming a yellow would have been appropriate.

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The mistake from referee Jaco Peyper has led to debate over the direction the game is taking, with fears an unwarranted red card could ruin competition in the upcoming World Cup.

“I’ve got my own personal opinions,” Sir Steve Hansen told The Platform. “If it’s a punch or a kick or a swinging arm that’s really deliberate foul play then you should be off, but you don’t really see too many of those these days and what we’re seeing now is a lot of collision red cards, and they’re not intentional.

“I like the idea of saying ‘right well you’re off’ if it was your fault, for 20 minutes. However, sometimes I think the guy that gets sent off is actually the guy that got injured so I just don’t see how you’d want to commit foul play against yourself.

“There’s still room for a lot of improvement on it. I know we’ve got to be concerned about the head injuries but I’m just not convinced that giving red cards out willy-nilly for what are clearly accidents with no intent, we’re just putting the onus on the referee, or now the TMO gets to make that decision and is he qualified to make that decision? Who knows.

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“But, are we doing it because later on, we want to be able to say in court cases ‘well, at least we gave them red cards’?”

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Hansen says the emphasis on red cards as the solution to head injuries in rugby is misplaced and resources going into the issue would be better utilised elsewhere.

“I’m just not sure why the big onus is on red cards, I’d like to see us spend more money educating people to tackle better, more money spent on people being educated to anticipate what’s going to happen in front of them a lot quicker and I think we’d solve some of the problems.

“I think we could change a couple of rules, like the height of the ruck, how do you remove a guy that’s over the ball if he’s got his head tucked down? Either you can’t or you can so let’s bring the height of the ruck up again and see what we can do there.

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“I know World Rugby are trying their hardest at getting it right but I still think we can do more.”

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Comments

5 Comments
J
Jmann 844 days ago

As always Hansen makes total sense. WR should just give him the keys and ask him to sort this mess out. The greatest coach of the modern era probably has a thing or 2 to make our game even better.

P
Poe 845 days ago

I really agree. Red cards are ruining too many contests. The world cup risks becoming card determined. Yes to clean out heights coming up. Yes to making the coaches and players work harder on how to enter/manage contact.

R
Ruby 845 days ago

Red cards for malicious acts, yellows for what they're for now and orange for dangerous but non malicious acts, player off for the rest of the game but replaceable after 20.

W
Willie 846 days ago

Red cards for vicious foul play.

Cite the rest and deal with it Monday.

i
isaac 846 days ago

Spot on ....dishing red cards does not change the fact that a player had head injury or contact...the rule will only reduce competitiveness of teams...if the intention is for player welfare...well good..but if it to save world rugbys ass from lawsuits....than its wrong to red card players

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Jfp123 32 minutes ago
France push All Blacks to 80th minute in narrow Dunedin defeat

So, you think top rugby players’ wages ought to be kept artificially low, when in fact the forces of “demand and supply” mean that many can and indeed are commanding wages higher than you approve of, and even though players regularly get injured, and those injuries can be serious enough to cut short careers and even threaten lives, e.g. Steven Kitshoff.

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As far as I can make out your objections amount to

1) they’ve sent a B team, which is not what we do and I don’t like it. Is there more to it than that? You haven’t replied to the points I made previously about sell out Tests and high ticket prices, so I take it reduced earnings are no longer part of your argument. Possibly you’re disappointed at not seeing Dupont et al., but a lot of New Zealanders think he is over rated anyway.


2) The Top 14 is paying players too much, leading to wage inflation around the world which is bad for the sport.

Firstly, young athletes have a range of sports to choose from, so rugby holding out the prospect of a lucrative, glamorous career helps attract talent.

Above all, market forces mean the French clubs earn a lot of money, and spend a large part of that money on relatively high wages, within a framework set by the league to maintain the health of the league. This framework includes the salary cap and Jiff rules which in effect limit the number of foreign stars the clubs employ and encourage the development of young talent, so there is a limit on Top14 demand. The Toulon of the 2010s is a thing of the past.


So yes, the French clubs cream off some top players - they are competitive sports teams, what do expect them to do with their money? - but there’s still a there’s a plentiful supply of great rugby players and coaches without French contracts. The troubles in England and Wales were down to mismanagement of those national bodies, and clubs themselves, not the French


So if you don’t want to let market forces determine wage levels, and you do want to prevent the French clubs from spending so much of their large incomes on players, how on earth do you want to set player wages?


Is the problem that NZ can’t pay so much as the Top 14 and you fear the best players will be lured away and/or you want NZ franchises to compete for leading international talent? Are you asking for NZ wage scales to be adopted as the maximum allowed, to achieve this? But in that case why not take Uruguay, or Spain, or Tonga or Samoa as the standard, so Samoa, a highly talented rugby nation, can keep Samoan players in Samoa, not see them leave for higher wages in NZ and elsewhere.

Rugby is played in lots of countries, with hugely varying levels of financial backing etc. Obviously, it’s more difficult for some than others, but aside for a limited amount of help from world rugby, it’s up to each one to make their sums add up, and make the most of the particular advantages their nation/club/franchise has. SA are not the richest, but are still highly successful, and I don’t hear them complaining about Top14 wages.


Many, particularly second tier, nations benefit from the Top14, and anyone genuinely concerned about the whole community of world rugby should welcome that. England and NZ have laid down rules so they can’t make the most of the French competition, which is up to them. But unlike some NZ fans and pundits, the English aren’t generally blaming their own woes on the French, rather they want reform of the English structure, and some are calling for lessons to learned from their neighbours across the channel. If NZ fans aren’t satisfied, I suggest they call for internal reform, not try to make the French scapegoats.


In my opinion, a breach of standards would be to include on your team players who beat up women, not to regularly send a B team on the summer tours for reasons of player welfare, which in all the years you’ve been doing this only some of the pundits and fans of a single country have made a stink about.


[my comments here are, of course, not aimed at all NZ fans and pundits]

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