The Scots made 2 stupid mistakes in the first 7 minutes. The first diving on the tackled player. The second the red card which effectively ruins the match which millions have been looking forward to for weeks.

These red cards used to be rare…for really egregious events. Now with head contact they are becoming quite frequent….which means more and more games are going to be ruined. The answer is so obvious don’t allow the offender to return, ban him for a month, and let another player come on.

I can easily see a WC semi or final being ruined by this excessive lawyering.

And incredibly the Frog hands the fate of the game back. My bad, I should have realized this was France.

Russell giveth and he taketh away.

Beautiful bit of centre play by Jones

Jones having a blinder.

Mozart

Just a reminder.   Jones played for the Ikeys in 2014 and occasionally played for the Stormers.   When he did he had outstanding performances - but when he was preferred by some to replace the useless Juan de Jong - you went ballistic.    

Another classical example of narrative memory….I always rated Hugh Jones.

Yeah something needs to be done about the red cards. Too many matches are being ruined by it. I know people say that eventually that players will learn to adapt but this has been going for on for years and that has happened. The speed at which rugby is played means their is always going to be accidental head collisions even with the best of intentions.

I'd agree with what Moz suggested. Give the player a lengthy ban but allow another player on after 10 minute so the people who paid sometimes hundreds to go and see the game don't have a ruined spectacle. 

Having said that, the medic's watching the game need to quicker on the decision making with HIA calls. Far too often have I seen clearly dazzed players allow to play on for a while before being called off after taking a high hit.

Also…stop allowing refs to watch everything in slow-mo.

I can understand when there is a punch in a ruck or something similar and your’re trying to see what happened. But so many of these tackles happen at lighting speed and there’s often little to no intent in terms of foul play.

Then you slow it down and it look like the guy planned the high shot from 25m away.

Collisions happen in 1-1 speed and should be judged at 1-1 speed. Refs are human, but so are players.

I’ve been saying for years that these cards are ruining games.

Where i do think they need to be stricter is with players pinning guys down on the wrong side of the ruck. It’s most often intentional and not in the spirit of the game. To me, if you’re holding a player down on your side of the ruck it should be a penalty and a warning.

It’s becoming far too easy to draw game changing penalties and cards these days.

Agreed, certain things should be evaluated in real time. Refs should be coached on that. Just a little common sense. 

The speeding up in play is welcome…nobody wants to see a try  awarded when there is an infraction. But do we have to go 5 phases back to decide if a pass was forward? I appreciated the ref in the French match quickly calling the forward pass.

But the game wasn’t over when the Red Cards were given, was it ? It continued to be entertaining and very close run. 

I have no problem with these cards at all. Players know the Laws and, if they choose to infringe, they, and their team, pay the price. It’s called accountability. 

Becs the only reason the game was entertaining is that offsetting red cards were given. If the Frog hadn’t reciprocated all that entertainment would never have taken place.

Imagine a WC final between NZ and Ireland with an Irish player red carded in the first five minutes…..4 years of anticipation up in smoke. Most of these cards are instinctive reactions in the moment, the team and the spectators should not be punished for that.

Red cards are stupid...weaponised refereeing in some instances. 

No, I still agree that cards are a necessary evil.

If you have to go 5 phases back, chances are the infraction wasn't an impactful as one might think, unless it was a massive breach with scramble tackles accounting for those 5 phases. But usually, 5 phases is a death sentence for attacking play. The window of opportunity is as small as 1 to 2 phases in the current game, against a good defence. 

Red cards are like vodkas, Becs.

They only become a problem when they happen to frequently.

I agree that one player’s brain fart, mistake or inadvertent infringement shouldn’t ruin it for literally everyone else watching. There are too many moving parts in rugby to expect to finish enough games with 30 players on the field with the way game is currently adjudicated.

I’m even annoyed when opposition players get sent off. My interest level in the rest of the match immediately drops by half.

I bet if we watch back the last 100 red cards in international matches, the victim more often than not suffered less injury than he would during a standard tackle.

…which smacks of a loss of perspective by the powers that be.

No you see, my interest doesn’t wane just because someone is stupid enough to get sent off. 

The whole tackle height thing won’t go away so there will be more cards than you would all like for some time to come. 

Fair enough, Becs.

Red cards are like vodkas, Becs.

They only become a problem when they happen to frequently.

No the problem is when they happen too infrequently!

I’m a gin guy, Stav. Once a year.

I’d actually like to develop a drinking habit at some point…it looks like fun

Mrs Searle/BlackBoy/Dragon/Linda et al is your ref flag to refrain from such a habit Mr Plum! 

Being sued by dementia damaged players wanting compensation settlements increasing ........... we'll sadly be seeing reds for yonks.

An excellent reason to involve players in the evolution of the laws of the game.