Law Discussion: red for a tip
In the Heineken Cup Toulouse, desperate for a home quarterfinal, play London Wasps, stinging after a surprise defeat in Glasgow had robbed them of their chance of making the quarters. There is a dramatic moment early in the second half when the referee flashed red.
London Wasps attack as Richard Houghton and David Lemi dart ahead. They win quick ball from the tackle on Lemi and flyhalf Dave Walder chips from right to ;left. The ball bounces high but speedster Tom Varndell leaps, grabs the ball and sets off. He cuts inside Vincent Clerc but is then confronted by Florian Fritz and Yannick Jauzion, who both grab him to stop him.
Then Fritz grabs Varndell by the thigh and tips him so that his legs are well above the horizontal, his upper body below the horizontal. Thus tipped Varndell goes down to ground, his arm trying to lessen the impact.
The referee immediately stops play and shows Fritz a red card.
As he leaves the field to boos, Fritz gives the booers a middle finger salute.
Walder goals the subsequent kick to put Wasps 16-7 ahead, but despite having only 14 men for the last 34 minutes Toulouse come back to 16-16, enough to give them a home quarter. But then Lemi scores and Toulouse kiss their home quarter goodbye. They would probably have preferred to have had 15 men for those last 34 minutes.
Let’s look at the law because the International Rugby Board, concerned about the danger inherent in such a tackle, has recently changed the law governing the tip tackle as it has reinforced its zero-tolerance stance towards all dangerous tackles by approving an amendment to the Law relating to the tip/spear tackle.
The amended Law 10.4 (j) now reads: Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play.
Sanction: Penalty kick.
The change was taking out the word first in such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play. That means that the fact that Varndell’s arm made contact before his head and shoulders is irrelevant – if people believe that the arm is not a part of the upper body.
The definition is clear. The referee does not have to bother with interpretation or intention or momentum. He can deal with facts. The fact is that Fritz lifted Varndell off his feet, twisted him and let him fall in such away that he landed on his upper body.
If a tackle of this nature occurs the instruction to the referee is to send the player off permanently, i.e. show him a red card.
In this particular incident Alain Rolland hand no option but to do what he did – blow his whistle, send Fritz off and penalise Toulouse. It was not a hard decision and not a harsh one. It was simply the right decision.
Fritz will face a disciplinary hearing organised by the European Rugby Cup, the body which organises the Heineken Cup.
