Kwagga red card angers Ackermann

Emirates Lions coach Johan Ackermann called for an overhaul of the red card system after his flanker Kwagga Smith was sent off the field for colliding with Crusaders fullback David Havili in the air during the Lions' 17-25 loss in Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby final.

Ackermann said he disagreed with the card, as it was against “common sense” and physics and believed that a more suitable punishment could have been worked out after the game.

The Lions had to play for 42 minutes with 14 men against the Crusaders, who became the first side in Super Rugby history to cross the Indian Ocean to win a final outside their own country.

Ackermann said while he understood it was to the letter of the law, he disagreed with the red card.

“I made a point when Robbie Coetzee got a red card – how I feel about red cards. I don’t think 62 000 people pay to see a 15 versus 14 game – the player can get disciplined afterwards and I will stand by that, especially if it is not outside the law like a kick in the face or a punch, or dirty play,” he told journalists after the game.

“Again, I can’t say too much because one has to respect what the officials say, but one must take into account that if a player jumps in the air forward, where does he go if someone touches his legs. But I suppose the New Zealand people are happy now that Jaco Peyper is a good ref, because last week he wasn’t a good ref.”

“Rudolf Straeuli summed it up because when he (Kwagga) was man of the match four times, everyone loved him, so why would that change?

"Again it is an interpretation about physics and a law, and people – that’s my problem – a law says one thing but common sense says another thing but anyhow. He is a great player, he was tremendous for us through the whole season, we can’t judge him by one incident.

"We still respect and love him as a person. What he brings to the team off the field as well – people always say what a player brings on the field, but off the field he is a great character and great for the team, so that won’t change.”

The Lions coach, who leaves for Gloucester this coming week to take up a coaching position there, said he was disappointed with the result, but that his team would not be “defined by one match.”

“We’re very disappointed and one’s heart is sore, that’s not how we wanted to end it. But Jaco Kriel said it earlier in the week. This team will not be defined by one match and to get to a final you have to do some things right.

“But it is emotional because this is the last time I’m going to be in the changeroom with these guys, and I have to walk away from special people, from a special group of players, from a special management and a special union.

“It’s a tough one but that is sport hey, sport is defined by small moments and I experienced that as a player in 2007, where one or two kicks cost us to not look after the ball and Bryan Habana scored and tonight again, the players will look back at this game and say there was one or two moments that the game slipped away from us.

“The red card definitely and the first try that they scored. For the first try we did all the playing, and then we lost the ball in the ruck and they scored against the run of play.

"Rohan Janse van Rensburg lost the ball close to the tryline and it would have brought the scorelines close, but those small little moments are what finals are all about. Getting those three, four opportunities and not using them.”

Ackermann will leave this Wednesday for Gloucester after a farewell with the side is planned.

The Lions may not be the Super Rugby champions but they should be lauded for the way they managed to somehow save their final against Crusaders from being completely ruined by the red card that saw them play the entire second half with 14 men.

It is not unheard of for a team to beat even good opposition when reduced to 14 men. But when you lose a man to a red card in a final when you are already down by nine points, it is something that is nigh impossible to come back from.

Full marks to the Lions for the way they simply refused to lie down, and the way they played in the last quarter did change my halftime view, which was that the Crusaders were going to win the game regardless of the red card that was shown to Lions flanker Kwagga Smith in the 38th minute.

When Smith was red carded, the Crusaders were leading by 10 points less than the Hurricanes were leading by at a similar stage of last week’s semifinal.

The Lions came back to win that game handsomely, so many Lions fans would wonder why it couldn’t happen again.

The truth is it could have, but it looked like Crusaders had learnt from the Hurricanes' mistakes.

While the now dethroned champions were frenetic and high tempo in their quest to run the Lions off their feet seven days earlier, and thus ended up running themselves off their own feet, the Crusaders were calmer and more measured.

They made sure they won the battles and points that mattered, and when Smith was carded, they looked well set.

The point though is that we will never know what might have happened had it been 15 against 15 the whole way, with the Lions’ comeback in the last quarter, where they cut a 25-3 deficit to 25-17, leaving enough of a question mark.

Ultimately, it was yet another big game in the modern era overshadowed by a red card, and while the individual player deserves to be sanctioned, you do have to question whether the rest of us, meaning all the stakeholders who had an interest in the game, deserved to be left feeling short-changed.

That was certainly how I felt, and I am sure so did millions of others, including Crusaders fans who might feel that their boasting rights – and what a magnificent achievement it was from their team to win a playoff game at altitude in front of 62 000 fanatical Lions fans – were a little undermined by the red card.

That the red card was the right decision from Jaco Peyper was beyond question.

As all the commentators correctly stressed, he was blowing to the law as it is written, and which he is duty bound to adhere to.

That it was the correct decision was shown by the reaction of both Smith and Lions skipper Jaco Kriel when Peyper told them he was issuing a red card.

You don’t play a man in the air, it is simple as that, and neither Smith nor Kriel complained.

However, it was so pleasing to hear Nick Mallett, in his role as a SuperSport studio analyst, lament what the decision had done to the game and to the occasion.

While it is right that everything possible is done to make the game as safe as possible for the players, there are too many cards in modern rugby and they have the impact of detracting from the package for both the paying spectator and the television viewer.

There are also too many occasions where you end up feeling sorry for the player who is banished. Smith should have pulled out before clashing with the airborne David Havilli, but it all happened in a split second, and everyone was in agreement that there was no malicious intent.

In the old days, a player was banished for a heinous deed, and the Sonny Bill Williams action that saw him get sent off in the second Lions test perhaps did qualify as that.

But these days it also seems that many players are red carded just for making a mistake or an error in judgment.

It happened often in the league phase of the season, but when the red card is the talking point after the showpiece day of the season, that highlights a problem for the sport.

There are too many cards, too many times we see teams playing 15 against 14 for all or part of matches, and the modern trend of teams playing for a yellow card in certain instances shouldn’t sit well with those who are charged with preserving the sanctity of the sport and of the 15 against 15 challenge.

It is high time that the game’s rulers introduce a system that sanctions the player and perhaps empties the bench, but keeps the contest at 15 against 15 except in exceptional circumstances.

ohannesburg - One of the big talking points in Saturday's Super Rugby final was the red card to Lions loose forward Kwagga Smith just before half time. 

The Crusaders were 12-3 up at that stage and looking the better team, and the Lions were always going to struggle to get back into the contest once they were reduced to 14 men. 

They gave a spirited display in the final 25 minutes and threatened to pull off another famous comeback, but in the end they just didn't have enough time on the clock to get it done. 

Crusaders coach Scott Robertson, who has become the first man to win a Super Rugby title as both a player and a coach, said after the match that the red card had an impact on the final result, but that it was the right call.

"I think the process was correct," Robertson said when asked about the decision.

"Jaco (Peyper) was calm, he was clear. He thought it was red, the TMO thought it was red, to the letter of the law it was red ... it's just a shame it happened in a final.

"Kwagga Smith had an unbelievable season and we knew he was a big threat. It's a shame ... it probably did affect the outcome to an extent."

Robertson suggested that the final 20-odd minutes, when the Crusaders were on the ropes, was when the numerical advantage worked most in his side's favour.

"You can't underestimate being up here at altitude, how much of an advantage it is and they played over the top of us," he said.

"With 20 minutes to go the boys were shattered. Mentally it was just so tiring.

"I think it did have an affect on the outcome and it's a shame for the Lions, because they've had some season

ONLY CONCLUSION IS LIONS WOULD HAVE WON WITH 15 MEN. CRUSADERS ARE FAKE CHAMPIONS. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA