a referee debriefs the controversies of the weekend

See my news
Follow Rugby News

Committed to all terrains, the 12^e Top 14 day was marked by several arbitration controversies : a yellow card for Teddy Thomas who could have been red, a stormy end to the match between Montpellier and Racing 92 following the KO of Sam James, or the try awarded to Lyon against Toulouse despite the protests by Angel Capuozzo. Contacted by At the time of Rugby, a high-level referee provides his explanations.

Teddy Thomas: an orange-yellow card

This is undoubtedly the decision that has caused the most ink to flow or triggered the most reactions on social networks. At the hour mark in La Rochelle – Clermont, Teddy Thomas was guilty of a dangerous “tackle”, more like a shoulder hit than anything else, on the young Théo Giral. Only punished with a yellow card.

“Pierre Brousset sells his decision by saying that it reminds him a little of the case of the first yellow card that he gives to Irae Simone, explaining that there is a first tackle which sends the carrier towards Teddy Thomas… I think that “he does this to balance the match and not necessarily give a red,” our referee explains to us.

Which, however, makes a difference between the two situations: “The action of Seuteni and Thomas is more simultaneous than that of Simone and Urdapilleta where there was a real first tackler – second tackler dynamic. For Teddy Thomas, there was room for a red card. »

Sad end of Montpellier – Racing 92: the deadlock of Tual Trainini

Another situation which largely divided the observers of the Top 14 this weekend, the sad and unfortunate end of the meeting between the MHR and Racing 92, ended on a forward committed by Sam James then unconscious, knocked out by a ” headline” by Jan Serfontein.

In his fall, the Ciel et Blanc fullback hit the arm of the Hérault defender who had probably anticipated his opponent going to the ground to try to scratch the ball. Seeing “a completely accidental act of play” rather than foul play, which occurred after the siren, Tual Trainini whistled the end of the match.

“I tend to agree with this ending. Stopping on an injured guy may seem a bit unusual but Tual explains it well by saying that it's an accidental contact and that unfortunately, it can happen. The player turns off, but it is not because the player switches off that it is necessarily unfair play“, explains our referee.

Could the man with the whistle have shown flexibility by returning a scrum to Gaël Fickou's Racing 92? “From the moment the ball is dead, the time is up, that’s not covered by the rule. Tual whistles forward, it's not foul play. And as long as it is not unfair play, unfortunately he has no other solution than to whistle the end,” we are told.

No foul play from Niniashvili

Finally, a final, much less dramatic situation occurred during Lyon – Toulouse, Davit Niniashvili taking advantage of a slight passivity from Ange Capuozzo to make him escape the ball by passing on the ground, Monty Ioane emerging to flatten it in the process.

The Italian international nevertheless protested and the action was reviewed on video to verify that he had not been caught without the ball or that his opponent had not dived on him. No problem on these points, but contact between the Georgian's forearm and the Toulouse man's head was visible on the images.

“At the time of contact, Capuozzo is not yet on the ground, both players want to go for the ball. There may have been accidental contact but Niniashvili's intervention seemed legal, there was nothing to whistle apart from the try,” says our referee.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.