The meeting between Clermont and Castres was the scene of an impressive head shock for Anthony Belleau. The Auvergne left the pitch on a stretcher, his neck in a neck brace. However, it seems that this action was not punished commensurate with its consequences, nor with the observable elements…
The strict application of the regulations sometimes causes serious inconsistencies between the reality of the facts observed on the ground and the sanction which applies. This is how at the 47e minute of play, during this Clermont-Castres counting for the 11e Top 14 daythe Auvergne player Anthony Belleau was the victim of a gesture of quite chilling violence by a Tarn Ardron-Jedrasiak double-blade. Belleau, who came on early in this match and at center (10e), would finish this action on a stretcher, with a neck brace, barely conscious and evacuated by the medical service cart. The sanction, then? A simple yellow card for Jedrasiak, nothing against Tyler Ardron.
To get there, Belleau, ball in hand in a rather banal line attack, had been hit by a violent shoulder blow from Ardron, from three-quarter back. Jedrasiak was waiting for him in defense, he was still in a high position, just starting to lower himself to tackle. The head of the Clermontois thus projected by Ardron violently hit the shoulder of the second row. Lights out immediately for Belleau, inert on the lawn.
Jedrasiak, a gesture that seems accidental
The images were therefore particularly worrying, from the shock of the impact to the attitude of the Clermontoisclearly a victim in this affair and who only reassured his people with a few movements, when he left the field in a horizontal position.
However, after a call to video assistance, the referee Mr. Nuchy chose to only issue a yellow card. Too little? Not necessarily, regarding Jedrasiak. If it is indeed too high and the shoulder-head contact is obvious, the mitigating circumstance is beyond doubt: without the prior intervention of Ardron, the course of the action would have been completely different and Jedrasiak would have had time to properly organize its defensive intervention. Here, Mr. Nuchy is only applying the rule, which states that interference by another player before the foul is worth a reduction in the penalty. The famous “extenuating circumstance”. And Jedrasiak, author of this ultimately accidental gesture concerning him, apologized to the Clermont public when leaving the pitch for ten minutes. A few seconds before, he had done the same to his former teammate whom he had just injured.
Ardron, a blank check that raises questions
On the other hand, how can we understand that his third row, the Canadian Tyler Ardron, is not worried about this action? His shoulder intervention on Belleau ticks all the boxes for an act of foul play: there is illegality, with a tackle impacted high and at the shoulder, without ever engaging the arms; there is force and speed, for a gesture that is at best “poorly controlled”, at worst with the clear intention of causing pain. Finally, there are the consequences, and a danger to the physical integrity of one's opponent, all of this very clearly outside the regulatory framework.
However, this action did not result in any sanction concerning him. Which changed nothing at the outcome of the match, which had already been promised to Clermontois (it was 28-10 at that time). But this is a stain on form, in a period where the subject of concussions and player safety has never occupied the authorities so much…
