I don't see what Paddy is geting so het up about, things said in the heat of the moment are often regreted afterward, Most of the people I know have let the incident psas, they still don't agree with the decision which is their right of opinion, You will always get the Fanatics who see it differently, But they are the Minority, Warburton has been dignified throughout, An Irish referee made a huge call, made his judgement on the law not the intent, which is what most people I talk to who know the character of Warbs find hard to take, That is my last word on this, lets hope it is yours to Paddy.
Have a look at the memo from june 2009 and you will learn that intent has nothing to do with the decision, PERIOD. The Welsh first minister has no place making ignorant public utterances when the mood in the country was so incandescent. The pictures combined with the IRB directive about Spear/ tip tackles makes it absolutely clear it was a red card. Sam Warburton is actually lucky he only got 3 weeks given that not only did he drop Clerc but he was actually attempting to contest the ball before the frenchman landed on his neck. I accept he was not trying to hurt Clerc but as Sam Warburton knows the rules he knows that DOES NOT MATTER; if you drop someone it is a red card and he dropped Vincent Clerc. I am getting 'het' up because a good ref who correctly made a brave decision in a high pressure situation is having judgement passed on him by some c**t politician who is more interested in winning votes than impugning a mans reputation. I have shown the still pictures with the memo to half a dozen people and changed their opinion on every occasion without uttering a word. Clive Norling has said it was clearly a red card, but then what does he know he was only one of the greatest refs of all time and he spends his time training young referees. It was a red card because intent does not enter the equation in making the decision, look at the memo. Any way, as I keep saying Wales had ample opportunities to win the game, in spite of SW being correctly sent off, and failed to take them the same as Ireland in Wales in the last 6 nations and indeed SA against Aus in the QF.Sam Warburton’s Red Card.
"The IRB Spear Tackle Memorandum
Date: 8 June 2009
Subject: Dangerous Tackles
"In 2007, the IRB Council approved a Laws Designated Members Ruling which essentially made it clear that tackles involving a player being lifted off the ground and tipped horizontally and were then either forced or dropped to the ground are illegal and constitute dangerous play.
At a subsequent IRB High Performance Referee Seminar at Lensbury referees were advised that for these types of tackles they were to start at red card as a sanction and work backwards.
Unfortunately these types of tackles are still being made and the purpose of this memorandum is to emphasize that they must be dealt with severely by referees and all those involved in the off-field disciplinary process.
To summarise, the possible scenarios when a tackler horizontally lifts a player off the
ground:
1 The player is lifted and then forced or "speared" into the ground. A red card should be issued for this type of tackle.
>>>>>2 The lifted player is dropped to the ground from a height with no regard to the player's safety. A red card should be issued for this type of tackle.<<<<<
3 For all other types of dangerous lifting tackles, it may be considered a penalty or yellow card is sufficient.
Referees and Citing Commissioners should not make their decisions based on what they consider was the intention of the offending player. Their decision should be based on an objective assessment (as per Law 10.4 (e)) of the circumstances of the tackle.
Memorandum from Paddy O’Brien , head of refs at IRB; New Zealander by the way.
