Come on Wales!

[Wodewick]

Bollocks. Red cards are for malicious play. That was a yellow at most and leave it to the citing panel after the game, that's what they're for. Killing such a key match has made a mockery of the whole competetion. The worst team are in the final; go figure

Where does it say that Reds are only for malicious play?

The ref saw a dangerous tackle and made a decision.

If he didn't go off but Wales won the match and then the citing commission decided it was worth a Red would that be fair? Obviously not!

The referee is the sole arbiter of fact and he made a decision - end of!!

PS As I have said repeatedly it was harsh but not wrong.

[doodab]

As much as it pains me to say, the Red was correct.

2nd half has just put my blood pressure off the scale and Mrs PL has made me brush my teeth again due to foul language.

It's a shame it had to end this way as IMHO Wales were the better side on the pitch. Kicking let us down TBH.

I reckon the others are going to have to up their game for the 6 nations.

Right, I'm off for a little cry somewhere.

I'm quite upset. Yesterday I had the cheeky buggers asking me if we play rugby in England, I was really hoping to see them get turned over, especially once you were a man down.

Oh well, I'll just have to point out how lucky they were.

[Pondlife]

There is no point going over this repeatedly.

As one of the pundits just said, the ref gets to see it once, we get to see it from every angle, repeatedly, in slowmotion.

The guy with the whistle has to make a decision on what he sees and what he saw was a guy going down with his feet above his head.

Whether it was meant with malice is IMHO irrelevant.

It's a harsh decision but correct according to the rules.

Yes, it cost us the game as I couldn't see the French team that turned up today winning otherwise.

Unfortunately none of this changes anything. They're through, we're not. Time to move on.


Now, who needs a ciggy?

[TiroFijo]

Red card wad correct, congratulations France, bye bye Wales.

[Doggy Styles]

Bollocks. Red cards are for malicious play. That was a yellow at most and leave it to the citing panel after the game, that's what they're for. Killing such a key match has made a mockery of the whole competetion. The worst team are in the final; go figure

No, lack of intent or malice are not relevant in that situation. It is the responsibility of the tackler to ensure that the tackle is not dangerous.

Secondly, if you do one of the worst things you can do on a rugby pitch, it should not matter whether it happens in the first minute or the last, at the World Cup or in a Tring second XV match.

But it's true Wales are a very good side.

[DodgyAgent]

I have once been tackled like that and it is scary and dangerous. As a parent of boys who play such a decision by the referee sends a message to players that no matter what the intent spear tackles are illegal and dangerous. That decision alone may well save some boys neck. I would also like to point out that the tackle was the same as the one made on O'driscoll on the Lions trip to NZ a few years ago. Although the ref missed it there was no shortage of Lions supporters (including Welsh ones) shouting that Umaga should have been sent off.

[d000hg]

He nearly broke the other guys spine on this tackle.

You mean, except for how he was totally un-injured? 'Nearly' doesn't mean the same as 'could have'.

[d000hg]

As one of the pundits just said, the ref gets to see it once, we get to see it from every angle, repeatedly, in slowmotion.

In rugby so does the ref, if he wants - or is that only for disputed tries?

All these people claiming what the rules do[n't] say are doing so uncited. Maybe one of you could find the rule? The question being - is a dangerous but non-malicious tackle which did not result in any actual injury a red-card offence?

[Mich the Tester]

The tackle wasn't necessarily malicious, but that doesn't matter. It was dangerous and stupid ('dangerous play' is a red card offense); it could have cost the French player his ability to walk and function, as it happened it ended up costing Wales the world cup. Not a very good game for the captain, have to feel for the rest of the Welsh players who put in a heroic effort having been let down by Warburton. In a way I feel sorry for him too; he knows what he's done and that he's done it at the worst possible time.

[Mich the Tester]

Would a stern warning or yellow not have been justified.

No; refs have been under very clear instructions that this kind of tackle must be red carded to stamp it out of the game; most of the pressure on refs to act firmly against dangerous tackles has come from players themselves who are scared of being made paraplegic.