Springboks centre Jesse Kriel has not been cited following his facet’s victory over Scotland on the Stade Velodrome in Marseille within the opening spherical of the Rugby World Cup.
The Boks ran out 18-3 winners however some followers and pundits questioned whether or not a collision between Kriel and Scotland No.8 Jack Dempsey simply two minutes into the sport constituted a head-on-head contact. Stills from the sport that did the rounds of social media appeared to point as a lot however a evaluate of the incident has discovered that Kriel has no case to reply.
To supply a clearer perspective on what the Citing Commissioner would have assessed, it’s essential to grasp that they’d have meticulously reviewed all obtainable digicam angles in each real-time and slow-motion. The last word intention would have been to establish whether or not there was clear and apparent foul play, particularly any occasion of head contact.
TMO Ben Whitehouse, who would have been tasked with alerting referee Angus Gardner should foul play have occurred, is understood to have dealt with it live during the match. Their assessment of the situation was that there was no clear and obvious foul play, which aligns with the standard set for such cases.
The fact that no citing has since been made with the 36-hour window suggests that Whitehouse’s call has been vindicated by the citing commissioner.
Speaking about the incident on Monday, Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said: “We are really comfortable; there hasn’t been a citing (and) I’m pretty sure there won’t be a citing. If it isn’t direct head contact – and it wasn’t, it was tackled on the ball and then he moved up after tackling on the ball. I’ve seen a few stills where people just (show) after direct contact to the ball.
“If you took it a millisecond or a second or two back, you’ll see that he clearly tackled on the ball. So we’re very happy with how it was refereed.
“I think Finn Russell’s call was much closer. Unfortunately, he got injured then, I think that deflected a little bit from the action that he did, but we were happy with the decision that was made.”
