Bizarre Will Skelton yellow card splits rugby world
It would be a lie to say that it is rare occurrence in rugby to see an incident where one group of people think it deserved a red card and another group think there was nothing wrong with it, as, after all, that was exactly what happened with the entire Freddie Steward red card debacle in the Six Nations. But it is strange that such incidents keep arising.
Just one week after that Six Nations match, there were a couple of similar incidents across the leagues in Europe, one of which was Will Skelton’s yellow card. The La Rochelle lock was sin binned in the first half of their match against Bordeaux Begles on Saturday for striking opposite man Jandre Marais in a ruck.
A quick glance at the comments on social media of this incident show a range of demands- some for a red card and some for play on. Marais is not without blame here, as he was holding onto Skelton’s leg from the base of a ruck. In response, the Wallaby starting striking his arm in order to break free from the ruck. There is nothing wrong with that as Marais was basically asking for it.
The trouble is, Skelton struck the South African’s head in his striking spree. That is where the demands for a red card come in. The intention was clearly to hit the arm, but there does seem to be clear contact with the head.
So for those that think it is simply play on as Marais was intentionally causing trouble, there are others that think he crossed the line when hitting his head. Both maybe have a point, and maybe a yellow card pleased everyone, with the referee saying his actions were “excessive”.
Take a look at the yellow card:
Until next week, and more controversy.
