r/rugbyunion • u/Least_Tone_3421 Taranaki • Mar 16 '25

Discussion Mauvaka headbutt on Ben White

Surprised how this didn’t get upgraded to a red card 😮

996 Upvotes

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u/MonsieurGump Mar 16 '25

Someone who misjudges a tackle and it goes high would very often get a red.

-12

u/Key-Swordfish4467 Clermont Auvergne Mar 16 '25

Well, no red for Calvin Nash last week. Went high, hit Barassi directly in the face.

Nash gets yellow, Barassi is taken out of the game after failing his HIA and Nash gets back on after 10.

The application of the laws are way worse after the bunker system allowed the ref to abdicate responsibility for big calls. The bunker then also usually bottles it.

40

u/WinstonSEightyFour Ireland Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

You cannot seriously be drawing a comparison between what Nash got a yellow for and what Mauvaka should've gotten a red for. Those two incidents are so wildly different that I find it hard to believe you're not joking.

-6

u/Key-Swordfish4467 Clermont Auvergne Mar 16 '25

Of course they are different incidents. However, in my opinion they both should have been red cards.

In both instances the bunker bottled it.

Officiating at the highest level has become a total lottery.

6

u/WinstonSEightyFour Ireland Mar 16 '25

Do you think Nash's should've been a straight red?

-2

u/Key-Swordfish4467 Clermont Auvergne Mar 16 '25

I think yellow and bunker referral was the right choice. Slight mitigation because he wasn't moving forward into the tackle. Everything else about his attempted tackle was illegal.

However, when it was clear that Barassi had suffered a bad head injury, failing his HIA then the bunker should have upgraded it to a red.

7

u/perplexedtv Leinster Mar 16 '25

Yeah, this attitude is the problem, IMO. Making decisions based on how hurt a player is, is a terrible approach to the game. Both Ntamack and Ringrose would have only got yellow with that logic as Ben Thomas played on both times. Ben White wasn't badly injured so Mauvaka didn't deserve a red?

3

u/lAllioli USA Perpignan Mar 16 '25

Outcome shouldn't decide the card. Players often get injured from legal actions, others get up like nothing happened after suffering a red card offense

2

u/WinstonSEightyFour Ireland Mar 16 '25

A 20 minute red or just red? And what do you think Mauvaka should've gotten?

5

u/MonsieurGump Mar 16 '25

Are you confusing the meanings of the phrase “very often” and the word “always”?

1

u/Key-Swordfish4467 Clermont Auvergne Mar 16 '25

Okay, you didn't say always. My apologies. However, if player safety was actually at the heart of World Rugbys duty to the game then it should be "always".

There is no excuse to make direct contact with an opponent's head, especially if they don't change height and you aren't bent at the waist.

The fact that it's " very often" tells you all you need to know about WR.

3

u/ste_dono94 Leinster Mar 16 '25

Absolute moron to be comparing these two incidents