Ackerman

Cape Town - Lions coach Johan Ackermann is not a fan of players receiving red cards during games. Ackermann was responding after Lions hooker Robbie Coetzee was slapped with a five-week ban for a red card he received during his side’s 54-10 Super Rugby win over the Southern Kings on Sunday. Coetzee was sent off in the first half of the clash at Ellis Park after striking Kings flank Chris Cloete in the face with his knee. Coetzee was retaliating after Cloete had dangerously barged into a ruck. Ackermann feels a yellow card should be the maximum penalty during a match as a red card “takes the contest out of it”. "I firmly believe there is enough time after a match for the whole process of reds cards, etcetera," Ackermann was quoted as saying by Rugby365. "If it was a serious offence, the guy will pay the price eventually. The people come out to watch a fair contest. Think about spear tackles. There is no intent, yet the player pays the (ultimate) price." In an interview with Netwerk24, Ackermann also defended Coetzee’s intentions. “I know Robbie didn’t mean to hurt the Kings player, he was merely reacting to what was happening in front of him. Robbie is not a dirty player and he’s not that sort of person.” After appearing before SANZAAR’s foul play review committee, Coetzee was suspended from all forms of the game for five weeks, up to and including July 1, 2017. ------------------------------------ I think Ackerman is right about this....a red card early in the game destroys the spectacle and punishes a team and the spectators as well as the perpetrator. The answer two levels of yellow card, the first where the player can return.....the second where the player can take no more part in the game, but a sub can come on keeping it 15 on 15. Post game punishment could be the same as today.

 Agree Moz.

Nice to be on the same page again.

 Draad is a decent fella, I don't mind him even though we disagree at times, think the board plays havoc at times by the way folks come across.....almost got to meet him on my most recent visit....next time Draadjie. Bring on December 2018 and the CT HSBC 7's.

Mozter that is an excellent suggestion! The double yellow. Think about the Bok game against NZ when Bizmark was sent off. That was surely to be an epic contest and Bizzie's send off ruined it. 

 
Would that not open a door to abuse?

Send on a player with the deliberate intention of hurting the opponents key play maker ... then be forced to sub him for one more suitable ...

Possibly, but if that happened too blatantly the post game sanction for that player could be very severe.

Good idea, think they'd been to be some sort of limit though so overly excessive or cynical fouls are punished with the removal of a player.

 Good point CC. 
The post match sanctions would have to be way more severe. Lol watch the hired assassins come out of retirement in their drives. 
Red cards do ruin games though. The above suggestion is probably the most rational though.
Wonder what Uli Schmidt is doing these days :)

 How about a yellow card offence gets 10 minutes in the bin. A red card offence results In the following...
Team takes the equivalent of a penalty in soccer. Two players get the ball on the halfway line, the penalised team is only allowed one defender. He has to start from within his 22. Whistle blows and the two attacking players try and score. A score is worth ten points.
Could be fun to watch.
The next red, same thing happens but is worth 15 points.  

 Dane Coles who???
https://youtu.be/v9kA3R9XVvY

Wonder how Strauss feels when he watches a guy like this? Most likely suicidal.

Or one player running from his own goal line, the defensive player on the halfway line. Making that tackle would be epic, a bullet intercepting a bullet. Or to use yesterday's example a missile intercepting an ICBM.

 Heavy sanction and a big fine for taking another player off...plus some civil claims for restitution.  While we're at it, how about some finacial sanction for reffs and officials getting it blatantly wrong?