By Lucky Vince Pienaar
World Rugby’s new 20-minute red card law, trialled during the Rugby Championship, has proven to be a mistake in the match between Argentina and the Springboks – but rugby’s highest authority is still writing it into law.
Pablo Matera’s red card at the 55-minute mark serves as a perfect example of why the new law does not work.
The red card now allows a player to be replaced after 20 minutes. If Matera had been carded just five minutes later, it would have been no different from a regular red card. The replacement player wouldn’t have been able to come onto the field, and the match would have been essentially over.
This incident demonstrates that a 20-minute red card handed out after 60 minutes is no different from a regular red card – the player is gone, and the team suffers for the remainder of the game.
The last crucial 20 minutes of a match constitutes a full quarter of the game. Therefore, the new system, which may have been inspired by New Zealand’s Sam Cane’s red card in the World Cup final, only makes a difference if it is applied within the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half.
If a player is red-carded late in the last quarter, it essentially becomes a 10 or five-minute red card.
Instead of devising a system that ensures a contest between 30 players at all stages, rugby’s authorities have introduced a poorly thought-out rule change. It seems to serve no purpose other than allowing Sam Cane’s replacement onto the field to give New Zealand a better chance of winning.
➤ Ironically, another significant rule change was implemented after the 2023 World Cup – the so-called Crocodile Rule. This rule states that a player may remove the tackler from the tackle area by pushing or driving them backwards. It specifies that “a player must not drop their weight onto an opponent or target the lower limbs.”
The crocodile roll is defined as: “A prohibited action where a player rolls, twists, or pulls a player sideways, who is on their feet in the tackle area, to the ground. The action often lands on the player’s lower limbs.”
Isn’t this exactly what Shannon Frizzell did to Bongi Mbonambi when he deliberately sat down with all his weight on Bongi’s knee – ending his World Cup and nearly his career?
This is a good rule, as the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee is easily damaged, with disastrous consequences (as Frizzell likely knew). However, if not applied carefully, it could result in overzealous referees going too far in enforcing it.
Pictured above: Springboks taking on Argentina.
Source: Springboks/X
