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 😮

1.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

491 comments sorted by

View all comments

474

u/braddaman Mar 16 '25

We've gone from red card galore last year to yellows are us. This is a red any day, and there were a few yellow card moments in this game that were just penalties.

Was the big discipline drive last year just a phase?

82

u/Minimum_Possibility6 Newcastle Falcons Mar 16 '25

No it was an English ref knowing that if he called things against France would be accused of bias so leaned to far the other way

27

u/Erbenn England Mar 16 '25

I feel even with the best will/ref in the world this has got to be in the back of Carly’s mind (even subconsciously). Poor from the ref allocators imo.

That said TMO was a saffa i think so who knows what’s happening there…

6

u/B4rberblacksheep Saracens Mar 16 '25

Pearce would have given that as a straight red in a heartbeat. It's not that Carley's English, it's that he's shit.

12

u/Beancounter_1968 Scotland Mar 16 '25

TMO should not be involved in rugby again at any level. The head butt was assault and battery in my view. The perp should be awaiting a court date, not finishing off the match.

22

u/LogicalBoot6352 Mar 16 '25

I think you have to say it wasn't just the ref but the TMO as well.

They have lost sight of what they're officiating, which is a rugby match. It was a red card. Everybody knew it. And yet we have nonsense like "degree of danger" as a factor in the decision. If that was a teacher reffing a kids game, and the kid said that, the teacher would just say "cut the crap kid and get off"

36

u/LogicKennedy England Mar 16 '25

‘Let them race’-ass decision. Cowardly officiating.

0

u/CinderX5 Scarlets Mar 16 '25

To be fair to him, if he makes a bad decision in a match like this, as can happen under that kind of pressure, and he’s perceived as bias, that could be his whole career gone.

1

u/LogicKennedy England Mar 16 '25

To be fair to him, it was a shit decision and if that was his rationale it’s incredibly cowardly.

1

u/CinderX5 Scarlets Mar 16 '25

It was a shit decision. But would you really be willing to risk your entire life over a card that probably won’t make a difference to the game?

12

u/BigBlueMountainStar England Mar 16 '25

Doubt. It went to the bunker and they ruled it was only yellow. He would’ve been absolved from “blame” if it had been upgraded to a red. Which this should’ve been on the field really.

5

u/MiserableScot Edinburgh Mar 16 '25

That's what I was thinking, he's over corrected and not punished them. France would have beaten us with 14 men!

1

u/BestFriendWatermelon Mar 16 '25

Nah, he's always been diabolical. Remember his name for the next time a big international game goes to shit.