VIDEO: White ready to 'fight' latest red card decision
SPOTLIGHT: Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White is preparing to defend one of his players again as another disciplinary hearing looms.
The Pretoria team produced a sloppy second-half performance, losing 22-23 to the Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday.
And the Bulls had a player sent off for a second week in a row.
This time it was Johan Grobbelaar for a high tackle on Scarlets prop Marnus van der Merwe in the 67th minute.
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It’s déjà vu for the Vodacom Bulls in Wales 😲🟥
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Last weekend, in a 29-19 win against the Ospreys, David Kriel received a red card for a hand-off, but it was rescinded after his disciplinary hearing.
Grobbelaar will now have a hearing of his own in the coming days and White is hoping for the same outcome.
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“The bottom line is that I don’t think that was a red card,” White told reporters after Friday’s defeat.
“I think there were circumstances, which I am not going to share with you [media].
“If it’s malicious, off the ball and it’s genuinely a red card, then we must never take that away from rugby. There is no place in rugby for that.
“The red card was put there for that exact reason because it’s dirty and malicious and premeditated.
“The red card wasn’t put in place for rugby incidents to take place.
“If we say it’s a rugby incident, then it becomes very different to the outcome.
“If you start by asking if it was foul play, which is the way that it’s done then you are going to get a different outcome.”
White added: “I will look at that and I will fight for the player.”
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White admitted that consistency is still a big issue when comes to decisions on the field..
“I seem to spending most of my week at the judiciary meetings, which is not helping the coaching,” said White.
“There is so much debate now. There are red cards for 20 minutes, there’s head contact, there are [new] gum guards that are coming out, so you’ve got to find the middle road.
“If players get knocked then you’ve got the risk of losing him next week with an HIA and that’s what makes it so difficult.
“We must be very strict on head contact.
“I’ve got sons that played rugby, and you don’t want a situation where you neglect that.
“It’s a difficult one because it is a game where people run hard at each other and there is little time for getting it right and getting it wrong.
“I saw things tonight [Friday] that would’ve been fine last week and I saw things tonight that wouldn’t have been good enough last week, that’s why it is so frustrating as a coach.”
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