Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete is available to play the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup opener after a World Rugby judiciary hearing decided not to uphold his red card from the third Test against France, finding there were mitigating circumstances in the incident.
The decision to send off Koroibete for a high tackle on France’s Anthony Jelonch in the fifth minute of Australia’s stirring 33-30 victory at Suncorp was widely criticised.
The decision, made by Ben O’Keeffe on advice from the TMO, was labelled an “absolute travesty” by All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens.
A World Rugby hearing, featuring former New Zealand internationals Mike Mika and Chris Smith, on Monday night cleared Koroibete in determining initial contact was made with Jelonch’s shoulder, based on multiple camera angles and submissions from Koroibete.
Marika Koroibete tackles Anthony Jelonch. Getty Images.
“The player Marika Koroibete admitted to technically committing an act of foul play worthy of a red card,” World Rugby said in a statement.
“Having reviewed all the evidence, the committee deemed that Marika Koroibete’s tackle on French loose-forward Anthony Jelonch initially made shoulder to shoulder contact at the fifth minute of the game.
“Subsequently, through the impact, any contact to the chest and neck was incidental by Koroibete. Therefore, World Rugby’s Head Contact Process was not met due to mitigating factors, and the act of the foul play was secondary.
“On that basis, the committee did not uphold the red card and the player is free to play again immediately.”
piru
Roar Rookie
The panel who cleared him were all kiwis too, weren't they? Maybe take your hand off it?
Bloody hell no!!! Id be biased as!!!
Olly
Roar Rookie
I also agree. The TMO and on field assistant refs need a good kick up the backside. I think the TMO has way to much input into the game and should only be called into action at the refs call. Not this interjecting every play rubbish we are currently watching. To me the TMO should only come into the live game at the refs call. I am happy for the TMO to report any foul play that was missed ingame to be reviewed after the game with the possibility of suspensions etc from this. The over refing of the game is making the game to sterilized for me and the TMO is making refs lazy.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
You’re not an AR are you Jacko? ????
ScottD
Roar Guru
MK would have been instructed to plead guilty to make sure his sentence was as lenient as possible. Never in their wildest dreams would they have expected this common sense decision by the panel.
ScottD
Roar Guru
I agree, Olly, it is the "safe" call. But we pay these guys to make the "right" call not the safe call. This is just another in a long line of examples where the on field decision by the referee has been questioned by linesmen or umpire and the ref has been persuaded to change his/her call. On a number of those occasions the referee was right the first time. This brings into question not the referee but the linesmen and umpires and particularly the umpire. It is this person that has the benefit of the quality view etc and yet it is this person that seems to be the common weak link in red/yellow cards over the last few years.
Uriah Heep
Roar Rookie
I don't think anyone was envious of Damon Murphy's eccentricities.
James DUPREE (senior)
Roar Rookie
Thank you for your kind analysis. Regrettably I suspect that you lost my point by your reference to the concept of “whimsy”. At 74 and having spent the majority of my time when playing rugby in the front row on the open side whimsey and me are complete strangers. On the field I leave whimsey to the back line. Off the field I drink Shiraz. As to the details of your knowledge of the path to aspire glory that you say referees tread I thank you and observe that I can only say in the interests of O’Keefe and the side line meddlers that such a journey if taken was a waste of time. Finally, given my age, I regret to sat that I do not understand the acronyms that you use. I have a strange belief that it is only words that say what they mean
Well I dont agree with your premise that the Ref is the boss and that the others are only there to support him/her. Its a 4 person team and the AR or TMO have the same rights to make a call based on what they saw. How angry would you be if the ABs scored the winning try off a knock-on and the AR said its a knock-on but the ref said "sorry I didnt see that so its a try". The AR, right or wrong" made his call. And I back his entitlement to do so every time. Good or bad.
Minz
Guest
Pretty sure the "graze" was the Frenchman's head bouncing off his back from the force of the hit, which isn't penalisable under current rules as I understand them (though, who knows!)
nroko
Roar Rookie
Contact to the head is foul play and therefore penalty at minimum. Severity of penalty (card, which colour) is based on whether it was direct contact to the head or indirect, force etc. plus other mitigating factors as per the high contact framework.
Ruff Rucker
Roar Rookie
But it wasn’t foul play. MK tackled a player at chest level as he ducked forward. Contact with the head was accidental.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Jacko, if you look at the vision, The Ref has CLEAR view of the incident. He is standing with a direct line of sight. My point was the Ref should always state how they saw it first so that it's clear into the microphone and recorded - this allows for greater transparency and will also help with improvements over time in officiating - then at his/her request he/she can engage the TMO and ARs. ARs and TMOs are just chiming in whenever at the moment. My point is we need some kind of protocols around this as it's feeling a bit like the Wild West. If the Ref misses something it shouldn't be up to some person sitting in a van watching on a screen being dictated what they see by tv production companies. The ref needs to be in control, and in many games, the TMO is having too much influence.
ScottD
Roar Guru
Marika is 180cm Jelonch is 193 cm based on their team sheets So, assuming that a head is about 30cm (or a foot for us old blokes) for Marika’s shoulder to hit Jeloch’s jaw would require Jeloch to have dropped by about 40-50 cm or nearly half a metre.
ScottD
Roar Guru
I don't know. I reckon he was pretty popular in France?
James DUPREE (senior)
Roar Rookie
Thank you for your kind analysis. Regrettably I suspect that you lost my point by your reference to the concept of "whimsy". At 74 and having spent the majority of my time when playing rugby in the front row on the open side whimsey and me are complete strangers. On the field I leave whimsey to the back line. Off the field I drink Shiraz. As to the details of your knowledge of the path to aspire glory that you say referees tread I thank you and observe that I can only say in the interests of O'Keefe and the side line meddlers that such a journey if taken was a waste of time. Finally, given my age, I regret to sat that I do not understand the acronyms that you use. I have a strange belief that it is only words that say what they mean
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
“ if that same decision …………goes against a neutral we dont care to argue anywhere near as strongly” Yet here you are.
No more walking across the road then I guess if going all theatrical is the go. Why breathe eh? Hasnt everyone who has died taken a breath? Being over the top silly does nothing.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Jacko - so players lives are NOT paramount then since only a ban would do that. A player can drop from a lineout and break their neck. A scrum can collapse and break their neck. A maul can collapse and break their neck. A tackle can break a neck. Being as careful as you can then should be an automatic rc for any collapse, any head contact, any player dropped or tackled in a lineout. So a debatable send off that was clearly proven wrong , also proves the process is wrong since the ref should be sole judge by the law book.
LOL. Its an easy card to hide behind of course as not one person can really argue with "player safety". The big thing here is that when a decision goes against our own team we get upset but if that same decision goes in our favor or goes against a neutral we dont care to argue anywhere near as strongly. I prefer when we see something like a SBW tackle v the Lions and we all say YEP thats a red regardless of which side we are on but unfortunatly too many decisions these days are somewhat subjective and I would not have been u[set if MKs had been a yellow but want all others the same to be YCs as well.