The farcical red-carding of England fullback Freddie Steward showed again that rugby's bid to make the game safer has changed the game for the worse, writes SimonBorchardt.
Match officials have been instructed by World Rugby to clamp down on head-related incidents in the sport in a bid to reduce the risk of concussion, so an almost apologetic Peyper began his speech to Stewart with “in the current climate …” you knew what was coming. “You’re upright, you went into contact, you had time to turn your shoulder, direct contact to the head is a high level of danger,” Peyper explained before pulling out a red card.
England prop Joe Marler: “Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. In fact, it’s complete and utter bollocks.”Former Ireland prop: “How is that a red? The game has lost all common sense.” I’d like to think that the abovementioned Englishmen would have said the same thing had the roles been reversed and Ireland had been red-carded, because this is not about a bad decision going against your team. This is about the need to universally condemn World Rugby for changing our game for the worse in a misguided attempt to reduce the risk of concussion.
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