Cheslin Kolbe, the South African fullback in last Saturday’s Test against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, has not been cited for the incident in the 17th minute when he appeared to spear tackle Mack Hansen into the ground.
Assisted by Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kolbe lifted Hansen above the perpendicular and seemed to both change his grip and drive the Ireland winger into the ground.
The Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli and his officials, assistant referees Mathieu Raynal (France) and Andrea Piardi (Italy), along with TMO Stuart Terheege (England) cited Hansen landing on his back as mitigation for their decision in only sanctioning Kolbe with a yellow card.
Hansen himself also played down the incident. Asked what he was thinking when the incident was being reviewed, Hansen joked: “I hope he gets a red card, that was pretty much it! Just because he’s one of the best players in the world.
“Looking at it on the screen, it wasn’t malicious at all. It actually looked worse than it was, he didn’t drive me by any means, I was just talking to him there and he’s a super nice guy and said sorry. It was nothing too hectic that came out of it, really.”
Yet, in protecting himself, Hansen placed first extended his hand and then twisted to reduce the impact on his head which hit the ground with his shoulder, before his back followed.
Opposing teams have a 12-hour window post-match to draw attention to something for the Independent Citing Commissioner, but no-one is inclined to go back to the old tit-for-tat. The latter than had a period of 24 hours to cite Kolbe but decided not to so, and nor did World Rugby do so, as they could have in reviewing all reports by the match citing commissions, which has to make one wonder if the process is fit for purpose.
Following the Rassie Erasmus hour-long video critique of the officials in the First Test against the Lions last year, Kolbe was one of those players from the fractious second Test who avoided a citing despite several incidents of foul play. This was despite his head-to-head contact with Tom Curry as he tackled the England flanker, and his taking out of the airborne Conor Murray.
