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Vodacom Bulls head coach Jake White questioned the decision-making process that saw his team reduced to 14 men against Western Province on Saturday.
The Bulls began their Currie Cup campaign high by claiming a last-gasp 22-20 victory over Western Province on Saturday night, their first win at Newlands in 11 years.
A big talking point came seven minutes into the second half when TMO Rasta Rasivhenge saw a dangerous tackle from the Bulls’ loose-headed mainstay Jacques van Rooyen on the province fullback Warrick Gelant.
Rasivhenge initially recommended that the entry deserve a yellow card, but after a long discussion, referee AJ Jacobs decided to overturn the decision, even though he did not see the incident at the stadium, and expel Van Rooyen, as he reasoned that the entry had “head contact with extreme danger and without mitigation.”
Despite playing with 14 men for most of the second half, the Bulls only conceded two attempts and struggled to regain a victory when Marco Jansen van Vuren scored what became the game-winning try after the conversion of the Winning touchline of mid-high Chris Smith.
Speaking to the media in an online briefing after the game, White questioned the process that the TMO and the referee followed in making the decision to expel Van Rooyen.
“I heard the comment and all of a sudden they turned it off,” White explained. ‘It seemed strange to me because we always have access to communication between everyone in the field. It was almost as if they had not reached an agreement between themselves on whether it was a red, yellow or penalty card. And then when it was red, I thought “God, that’s kind of weird.” Usually if someone has doubts, I think the [benefit of the] the doubt would go to the player [tackler].
“I don’t think it was justifiable as a red card. Warrick Gelant got up and continued playing, they didn’t even hit him on the head, hit him on the shoulder.
However, White sympathized with referee Jacobs.
‘AJ is quite highly rated, he works closely with [South African Test referee] Jaco Peyper in Bloemfontein. You are considered one of the referees they see as a possible future test referee. It is difficult for a man to learn everything. He must have felt under pressure late in the game too. ‘
Western Province coach John Dobson was also asked about the incident, which he called a “gray area” of the game.
Dobson referred to an incident in Saturday’s test game between New Zealand and Argentina, when All Blacks mainstay Tyrel Lomax only received a yellow card for a dangerous cleaning despite hitting his arm on the head. an opponent.
“I think we are back in a gray area with those situations,” Dobson said. ‘At the end of the Argentina vs All Blacks game this morning, there was a red card in my mind that was only given as yellow. That probably could have been worse than what happened today.
“I think we are loafing overall, finding a lot of mitigating factors like this morning’s game. Those injuries can be devastating. But if that’s going to apply universally, it’s a red card, then great.
But with the context of what rugby is like right now, I was probably a little surprised that it was a red card, but they did go through their checklist, we could hear them go over their checklist. But if it had happened to us, yeah, I probably would have been disappointed that it was red, but I would have accepted it too. ‘
Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images
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