This is probably the thing that everyone is talking about after yesterday's game between the Hurricanes and the Reds at The Cake Tin (officially named Sky Stadium), but we're going to talk about it anyway... That yellow card and penalty try... It was wrong. Here's the video that we'll be going through.
This all came about because the officials deemed that ball to be knocked out of play on purpose. Let's first talk about the penalty try... Just no. It wasn't even close. Ngani Laumape is a great player, don't get me wrong, but he can't do the physically impossible. I do not believe he could have scored this try if you remove Reds flyhalf, Bryce Hegarty. I think they got that wrong and that's what I'm sticking to.
Right... Now... The yellow card. The reason I find this harsh is because they've deemed this to have clear intent to it. I don't see the intent. In my opinion, once a player is bumped, they can't fully do anything intentionally. It's one of those things that I just don't believe. I think Hegarty (the flyhalf for the Reds) was trying to ground that ball. It wasn't the best go at it, but I think he was going for it. My opinion is, once a player is bumped (in the way both Ngani Laumape and Bryce Hegarty were) on the arm, the intent of whether they were grounding the ball or hitting it out the back is entirely gone.
I'm not the only one to think this either. Both commentators on the game (Ian Smith and Justin Marshall) thought the call was bizarre at best. This situation sparked nearly an hour of debate in my house, but let's get our opinions where everyone gets their opinions these days... Twitter.
I'm not saying what the tweets are saying. Remember, besides old mate Mehrts, these tweets you'll find are written by some of the biggest complainers on earth... Australians. Take what they say with a grain of salt (if they haven't taken it all themselves, those salty little beasts), but here it from me... The refs messed it up.
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