2023-09-14 21:57:14
This is one of the first turning points in this second match of the Rugby World Cup for the French XV. Romain Taofifenua escaped a red card after a shoulder tackle that looked dangerous against Uruguayan scrum-half Santiago Arata. But why ?
In the 27th minute of France-Uruguay at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille, the referee of the match Ben O’Keeffe called on the video for a suspected tackle on the shoulder of the French second row Romain Taofifenua in the face of Arata. After viewing the images, the referee decided to take out the yellow, and use the bunker, a new device that allows the game to continue and allow several additional minutes for a video referee to turn the yellow into red if the situation requires it.
“It was dangerous”
After eight minutes of regulation, Ben O’Keeffe called Blues captain Anthony Jelonch to tell him his decision: no red card. Romain Taofifenua was therefore able to find his place on the pitch. The referee of the match considered that there was indeed a dangerous tackle to the shoulder and contact to the head of the Uruguayan from Castres, but that Taofifenua benefited from mitigating circumstances.
“The yellow card will remain a yellow card. There was direct contact to the head, it was dangerous but there is an extenuating circumstance because of the second tackler (Sekou Macalou) and the player (Arata) ducked,” Ben O’Keeffe explained to captain of the XV of France. In this case, Santiago Arata was actually slightly lowered at the time of the action and therefore found himself facing Taofifenua’s shoulder. An orange-yellow which therefore remained yellow.
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