International rugby has been caught in a firestorm once more with Springboks lock Lood de Jager shown a straight red for a dangerous hit on France's Thomas Ramos on the stroke of halftime of South Africa's 32-17 win at Stade de France, Paris.
Taking on the Springboks' defence inside his own half in the 38th minute, Ramos was initially stopped by Cobus Reinach, before he was then hit hard and fast by de Jager who failed to adjust his body height and sent his shoulder straight into the fullback's head with no arm wrap, as Ramos' knees hit the ground.
While referee Angus Gardner initially called for "play on" TMO Ian Tempest quickly brought the incident to Gardner's attention moments later.
As slowed down replays of the incident were played over the stadium big screens, fans were quick to make their anger known while broadcast commentators stated, "that does not look great" but questioned "is the drop in height a mitigating factor?".
Meanwhile, Gardner could be overheard discussing the situation with his assistant referees Nika Amashukeli and Christophe Ridley: "Direct shoulder to head, the arm is back so it's always-illegal, but the player is low, so it reaches our yellow card threshold...
"At the moment we've got shoulder to the head with the arm backwards, so at the moment we've got always-illegal action. Now the question is around the threshold, is it yellow card threshold? Or is it permanent red card threshold?"
As the discussion and big screen replays continued, Gardner and his referee team eventually came to a decision: "Permanent red card? Intentional and reckless. We're at permanent red card threshold."
De Jager was quickly shown a red card, and the Springboks were reduced to 14-players for the remainder of the match. But how did Gardner and his referee team get to that decision?
WHAT ARE WORLD RUGBY'S LAWS ON HEAD CONTACT?
Head contact in the tackle comes under Law 9 of the Laws of Rugby Union, which covers foul play.
Law 9.11 dictates: "Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others, including leading with the elbow or forearm, or jumping into, or over, a tackler", while Law 9.13 continues "A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders."
Breaching these laws can result in a penalty, yellow or red card based on the severity of the actions adjudged by the referee and their assistants.
WHAT IS WORLD RUGBY'S HEAD CONTACT PROCESS GUIDELINES?
This is where the fun part comes in, and where a lot of discussions and debates occur.
In 2023, World Rugby issued their latest 'head contact process law application guidelines' creating a four-point guideline to help referees determine whether foul play had occurred and how it should be punished.
Step 1 is relatively simple, 'has head contact occurred?'. Head contact includes the head, face, neck and throat area. If any contact is made referees immediately move to step 2.
Step 2 is more complex, 'was there foul play?'. This is broken down even further with referees to decide whether the contact was intentional, reckless or avoidable. If the contact fails to meet any of the three criteria it's not deemed foul play and the game continues. If the referee determines it has met any of the three criteria the tackler will be penalised and they move onto step 3.
Step 3 'what was the degree of danger?'. This again is broken down further to be judged from high to low to determine the punishment.
A high degree of danger is judged to have included any of: direct contact rather than indirect, a high-force impact, a lack of control from the tackler, the incident occurring at high speed, the tackler leading with the head/shoulder/elbow/forearm or the tackle being reckless.
If the referee judges there to be a high degree of danger, it reaches a red card threshold.
Meanwhile, a low degree of danger is judged as indirect contact, low force, low speed or no leading head/shoulder/forearm/swinging arm. This reaches a penalty or yellow card threshold.
Any yellow-carded player can face further review by the Foul Play Review Officer who has eight minutes to determine whether the action reaches the red card threshold and can elevate the on-field decision to a 20-minute red card.
Step 4 brings into question 'is there any mitigation?'. Mitigation includes a sudden or significant drop in height or change in direction from the ball carrier, a late change in dynamics due to another player in the contact area, a clear effort from the tackler to reduce their height or the tackler having no time to adjust.
Mitigation can determine whether a punishment is reduced from a red card to a yellow or a yellow to a penalty. However, mitigation will never apply for intentional or always-illegal acts of foul play.
It is also worth remembering, that there does not need to be an HIA [Head Injury Assessment] to deem the action as foul play, as World Rugby states: "Player welfare drives World Rugby's decision making for zero tolerance of foul play, especially where head contact occurs. The focus must be on the actions of those involved, not the injury - the need for an HIA [a Head Injury Assessment] does not necessarily mean that there has been illegal head contact."
If we take all of the above into consideration we must ask: Did Lood de Jager make contact with Thomas Ramos' head? Yes. Was there foul play involved? Yes. Was it a high degree of danger? Yes and was labelled an "always-illegal act" by Gardner, ruling out any mitigation. This means Gardner had no other choice than to show the lock the red card.
WHY WASN'T LOOD DE JAGER GIVEN A 20-MINUTE RED CARD?
The 20-minute red card was introduced to give referees another option in case of technical offences. Any act of foul play which is deemed not deliberate or intentional will see the player punished with a 20-minute red card.
However, de Jager's tackle was deemed "intentional and reckless" and "always-illegal" by Gardner as he failed to attempt to wrap his arm and made connection with Ramos' head, ruling out the 20-minute red card as an option.