Wales lament Warburton red
15 Oct 2011
Wales have questioned the judgement of referee Alain Rolland in sending off captain Sam Warburton and pointed to it as the decisive action in the Test.
Wales were the better team throughout the Eden Park clash despite being reduced to 14 men as a result of Warburton’s 1th minute red card for what was adjudged to be a spear tackle.
However, coach Warren Gatland was still heavily critical of the decision. ‘It surprised me how quickly the referee made that decision. You’d think that an experienced referee would have consulted his touch judges first. I don’t dispute that he lifted the player, which deserved a yellow card, but he didn’t drive him into the ground,’ Gatland said.
‘We feel like our destiny of winning a World Cup semi-final was taken away by that decision. But I’m proud of how the guys responded in a situation where France should have been comfortable. To get that close was a massive effort.’
Warburton said he never intended to lift winger Vincent Clerc, explaining that his momentum and weight advantage combined to make for a punishing hit. ‘It wasn’t malicious. One minute I was getting up off the ground, the next I was in the stands. I’m gutted.’
Wales had plenty of possession in the closing stages and looked to be setting up a drop goal. Strangely veteran flyhalf Stephen Jones never looked prepared to risk one, consistently calling for the ball to be retained in the forwards. Gatland was non-committal when probed on this issue.
‘We didn’t really ever put ourselves in a good enough shape to do what we wanted to in that situation,’ he said. ‘We had to get more momentum at the gainline, which didn’t come.’
France coach Marc Lièvremont was typically animated despite another mediocre performance from his charges. ‘I don’t care about whether we were good or not. All that matters is that we are in a World Cup final in New Zealand,’ he said.
‘Strangely the numbers advantage seemed to affect us badly. We were expected to win from that position, but the players never controlled the ball like they should have. We made a lot of knock ons and poor decisions. But again, we’re in the final and have a chance to make things right before then.’
Lièvremont said he hoped to face the All Blacks in the final. ‘I’ve always been a lover of the All Blacks and to play against them in the final would be a dream come true. Our history against them at this tournament doesn’t matter, we’ve never beaten them in a final. I’d love to face them.’
By Ryan Vrede, at Eden Park.
162 Comments
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15 Oct 2011, 14:53 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-49:
stop whining soft co ck
15 Oct 2011, 14:54 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-45: pretty rich coming from a kiwi, a nation which claims to have been cheated out of every world cup/or at least every second one since 87, great teams win close games i agree, but you need the fair application of the law!
15 Oct 2011, 14:54 pm
@surreyshark4(surreyshark4)-47: Can you spell c r a p.
In what world does not consulting your touch judges make it a premeditated.
99.8% of decisions are made without consultation.
Read the rule that has been posted above, if you cannot grasp it, not sure what can be done.
If you don’t like the rule, you can write to the IRB.
Roeland, was 100% right. Warburton is the person who got it wrong.
15 Oct 2011, 14:54 pm
Really funny that after the Boks got done a lot of Kiwi and Aussie fans said that Bryce Lawrence interpreted the laws and the Boks should have adapted to his interpretation. Now those same people are saying that Rolland had to stick to the letter of the law and it is not open to interpretation. Talk about having your cake and eating it! It must be nice playing against opposition knowing your indiscretion will be interpreted but your opposition will be judged in black and white! Laughable!
15 Oct 2011, 14:54 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-48:
RWC games are sometimes won or lost by forward passes, penalty kicks and penalty kicks missed. Oz fluked a game, as did the Boks and France….it’s the nature of the game…but yes…there has to be reffing consistency.
On a brighter note, the South African refs have been nothing less than outstanding in this RWC. At least we were good at something.
15 Oct 2011, 14:55 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-50:
I have to go, your whining is making me ill, the big boys are playing tomorrow i’m sure you’ll enjoy it…
15 Oct 2011, 14:57 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-56: No answer for it? Then just say so rat boy. Typically coward NZ running away.
15 Oct 2011, 14:57 pm
@JEZ(DEE DAH)-54:
Everyone knows that Rolland is one of the strictest referees in world rugby. The Welsh should have known better.
15 Oct 2011, 15:01 pm
Seriously! The team that lost two of its pool games and one to Tonga is in the final!? How serious can you take world cups anyway?
15 Oct 2011, 15:01 pm
58
Still doesn’t explain why refs interpret some sides indiscretions and others get no leeway! Rolland went red and the game as a fair contest was ruined. The tackle was reckless fair enough but it wasn’t dangerous and there was no intent. I know according to the laws that makes no odds but I guarantee if Richie McCaw did that he might have got yellow at absolute worst.
15 Oct 2011, 15:03 pm
Or has everyone forgotten Jon Smit being body slammed by Thorn in front of the ref? An act after the whistle that injured the Bok captain, if Schalk Burger did that it would have been red but Brad Thorn didn’t even give a penalty away.
15 Oct 2011, 15:04 pm
@The Bill(The Bill)-53: bit longer than c r a p , but can you spell application, that is what LAW is about the fair application of the law, and would hotly dispute your fact 99.8 of RED cards are issued without consultation! as the say 76% of statistics are made up on the spot or was it 96%
15 Oct 2011, 15:04 pm
@JEZ(DEE DAH)-60:
That’s cos everyone is trying to help the Kwis to a RWC final. It’s like letting the Down Syndrome boy win the race.
15 Oct 2011, 15:10 pm
lets talk about perception, the overriding perception of this world cup will be one that the refs were involved in the final outcomes of close/big games, that will end up being Paddy’s legacy, we may have been lucky in 2007 in not having to play anyone to win it, but at least we did beat everyone we played, even with appalling refs and citing comms, do we remember Schalks banning for going for a ball!!!
15 Oct 2011, 15:11 pm
GO LIVERPOOL!!!!!!
15 Oct 2011, 15:12 pm
63
I don’t believe there is a conspiracy favouring anybody but I do believe that certain sides are subconsciously given more leeway than others by referee’s. The Boks tend to be hammered by refs and citing commissioners but a Kiwi for instance would have to bugger an officials wife before he faced any sanction of consequence.
15 Oct 2011, 15:12 pm
63
I don’t believe there is a conspiracy favouring anybody but I do believe that certain sides are subconsciously given more leeway than others by referee’s. The Boks tend to be hammered by refs and citing commissioners but a Kiwi for instance would have to bottomfuck an officials wife before he faced any sanction of consequence.
15 Oct 2011, 15:14 pm
Sorry for the double post but original was rejected so I did some creative editing and both appeared! My Bad!
15 Oct 2011, 15:17 pm
@surreyshark4(surreyshark4)-64: Actually we beat the form teams of te WC. Had we played Australia it would have been a walk over, New Zealand also played very poorly. No, we were actually not fortunate in 2007, we ended up playing the best sides.
15 Oct 2011, 15:19 pm
@surreyshark4(surreyshark4)-62: Well if that is your problem, bithc about it when the refs don’t penalise when they should, don’t . The ref is right in this case, the other occassions they are wrong.
That is where Paddy is falling down.
15 Oct 2011, 15:24 pm
@The Bill(The Bill)-70: 2 QUESTIONS
1) HOW MANY TACKLES HAVE YOU SEEN IN THIS WORLD CUP AS BAD AS THE WALES ONE?
2) HOW MANY RED CARDS HAVE BEEN DISHED OUT FOR THE ABOVE MENTIONED TACKLES?
MY ANSWERS
1) AT LEAST 5
2) NONE-
SO either the ref got it wrong this am or in many previous games
15 Oct 2011, 15:43 pm
It is not as if the French no 14 was dropped on a concrete floor.It was soft and yielding.Look at the French maul close to the Wales try line.
Wales player pulls is down and as reward gets trampled deliberately by
French forwards, The penalty should have been reversed.
Both incidents constituted dangerous play and in both yellow cards should
have resulted. Now two of the best teams Wales and South Africa have
sent packing as result of the two opposites, South Africa by Bryce Lawrence
lackadaisical handling of the Australia/South Africa match and Alain Rolland
seeing red.
Both incidents happened in front of the Assistant referees,but they may only
comment of things happening behind the referee’s back and not on what is happening in front of him as if is now all seeing.
Rugby needs to grow and attract more supporters and players but this won’t
happen if referees are allowed to determine the outcome of the game.
15 Oct 2011, 15:44 pm
What a game… I enjoyed every nail-biting bit!
15 Oct 2011, 15:45 pm
@surreyshark4(surreyshark4)-71: Simple, they should ALL have been carded! The reason why they dont is because “nobody wants to see a game disrupted by cards” rather than having a fairly reffed game. Refs have become conductors, calling it as they see fit to have the game pan out how they like. Rugby is very quickly becoming a soap opera as opposed to a real sport. Refs need to be sorted out very quickly. Not only are there dozens of different, ahem, interpretations, but they never apply these ‘interpretations’ evenly. It’s very poor.
15 Oct 2011, 15:50 pm
@Brentie1(Brentie1)-72: Wales have themselves to blame. Hard as it may be for you to believe, but a player landing on grass, on his neck, can very easily die, or be paralysed for life. It’s by far the worst and most ignorant thing you can possibly do. It was a straight red and rightly so. If wales want to complain, then they must direct their grievances towards Warburton. He is supposed to be their leader, but was the prize ******* pulling off a tip tackle. He left the ref no option. That other incidents have been let off is no excuse to defend this either, all such tackles must be carded and more. And to be fair, this one was the worst of the tourmant. Yachvilli landed right on the back of his neck.
15 Oct 2011, 15:52 pm
I thought the decision was very harsh. It deserved a yellow but in a World Cup semi final sending a player off for the game should only be done in extreme cases. Whether it was the right decision or not the result is a very undeserving team who has lost 2 games is now in a position to win the whole damn thing. A 14 man Welsh team still almost beat this French team and when you remember what happened to the boks a few years ago against England when we played with 14 men shows how much guts the Welsh played with but also how poor this French team is.
15 Oct 2011, 16:00 pm
@malcolm(malcolm)-76: Like I say, the ref followed the rules for once. Nobody forced Warburton to dump Yachvilli. He committed the crime and was punished. Imagine if I “accidentally” killed someone by punching them. “I neva ment 2 do nuffin serius” is not going to hold up in court. Intent is one thing, but the end results is the same. Warburton was given the rightful measure of punishment. The only people supporting him are those that hate the French or who wanted the Welsh to win. It’s complete folly.
15 Oct 2011, 16:04 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-77: If you accidentally kill someone by punching him you will be convicted of manslaughter (a yellow card) not murder (a red card). It has nothing to do with hating the French. They have had some great teams over the years. But this French team is poor and does not deserve to be anywhere near the finals.
15 Oct 2011, 16:29 pm
@malcolm(malcolm)-78: I agree that France are poor, but Wales are very much overhyped. All their praise is based on a game against the Boks, a game where the Boks had an injury crisis. They exploited Butch out of position. That was it. They also had the ref in their pocket, which made it very difficult to play ourselves into their half, yet in spite of all of this, they lost, and got close only through an illegal try. I don’t support the view that France should not be allowed to the final. They have not involved in any controversy thus far and have not had any ref in their corner, so I cannot complain. They are there and that’s all that matters. The Welsh shot themselves in the foot, and in all likelihood blew the best opportunity they’ll ever have of winning a WC, seeing as NZ are so shoddy and Australia so painfully one dimensional.
15 Oct 2011, 16:32 pm
Crash n burn Wales !
15 Oct 2011, 16:38 pm
watching Mortals play this silly game is so positively
B O R I N G !
15 Oct 2011, 16:40 pm
That Frog was 2cm away from being paralyzed … that was a sickening tackle but what made it worse was that dragon trying to slam the Frogs face into the dirt while he was on his way down. That was a deliberate attempt to hurt somebody by that dragon thug, red card was the correct call.
15 Oct 2011, 16:46 pm
On the “France Profit…” thread:
583.Black Panther:
15 Oct 2011, 16:42 pm watching the Mortals run about this this deranged enthusiasm for spastic folk dancing is thoroughly amusing
Reading you repeat yourself [in an unintelligible fashion] IS boring.
15 Oct 2011, 16:47 pm
He released the player.
Never a red card.
Only an irrational idiot would think it deserved red.
15 Oct 2011, 16:48 pm
THE most ridiculous Red Card in a game played by mere Mortals since Adam was a non mythical sub character in an unnecessarily long Cli Che aracterisation of Gallic ambushes
15 Oct 2011, 16:51 pm
O fo’k here’s Thinus Delport on Sky sports saying it’s now a “rebuilding phase for the Boks to build for 2015.”
Not a chance.
Screw 2015 we want to win the 4N in 2012, and the next year and the next, and then we will worry about 2015.
None of this “building towards the World Cup” stuff, thank you very much.
15 Oct 2011, 16:51 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-84: were you not the sharkievarkie calling for a red card when Bambie was spear tackled by an islanders.
15 Oct 2011, 16:52 pm
What’s with the mortals business
15 Oct 2011, 16:52 pm
The Game they play in Heaven
bb b b b b b b b wwww W A A A A A AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH H H H H H H HHHHH !
15 Oct 2011, 16:53 pm
Save us
Another keyboard mess ******
15 Oct 2011, 16:56 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-84:
Okay doodums calm down.
15 Oct 2011, 16:56 pm
@RL(RL)-87: you like to make up things don’t you?
Weren’t you the thick dut*hman crying for his momma when the Boks were knocked out?
15 Oct 2011, 16:57 pm
Must be the way you tell jokes.
15 Oct 2011, 16:58 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-91: I’m pretty sure you clicked on the wrong arrow.
15 Oct 2011, 16:59 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-92: not me, I was celebrating the demise of Plod … and you sharkievarkies look alike to me, so there is a chance that you were the culprit.
15 Oct 2011, 17:00 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-79: Wales were very good against the Irish as well the side that beat the Aussies. All round I thought Wales played some of the best rugby in the World Cup.
15 Oct 2011, 17:01 pm
@RL(RL)-87:
‘Bambie’ as you call him, was one of the stars in the Bok team and I bet you screamed like a girl when he made that try saving tackle on the Samoan in the groups stage match.
Admit it, you have fantasies about him.
15 Oct 2011, 17:03 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-91:
I’m just being an irrational idiot thinking that almost breaking someones back is acceptable.
15 Oct 2011, 17:05 pm
Pienaar said it best.
“Dancing is a contact sport. Rugby is a collision sport.”
15 Oct 2011, 17:07 pm
@RL(RL)-95:
So even men and women look alike to you? What do you mullet wearers drink there in Gautengaleng…Klippies and diesel.
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