We love a controversial moment. It lets us get irrationally angry at someone who doesn’t share our view point, Twitter debates roll out for hours on end and opinions fly all over the place. Two weeks ago on Friday night brought one of the most controversial moments we’ve seen in the Premiership this season. The same as Jarred Payne against Alex Goode was last year, a red card changed a match and gave us plenty to talk about. This time though, I suspect there won’t be a huge clarification from World Rugby (IRB.) I am, of course, talking about Nathan Hughes’s red card for his part in knocking out George North. Take a moment to remember your opinion or check it on YouTube. Link is below. It’s ok, I’ll wait. ☕️
https://youtube.com/watch?v=diWjCU7T4AU
Welcome back. Everyone have their opinions? Excellent. Right, now I can begin. For those who haven’t seen the incident, why didn’t you go to YouTube? But I’ll give you the short version.
Controversy – Hughes vs North
Manoa takes the ball from a restart, offloads to North, North scores despite being tackled by Lozowski. Hughes comes through, looking like he was going to kick the ball out of North’s hands and catches North in the head with his shin/knee, knocking the Welshman out.
First things first, let’s take a moment to say “I hope North is alright.” He was certainly wondering about post match and looked ok when I saw him the next day. (He was watching his nephews in the u12 Land Rover cup.) But I think we all want him to be rested for the next few months. He’s been told as much by the World Rugby concussion experts, but then we don’t know what the doctors have said to him. He has been advised to not play for the next month, so we shall hopefully see him in the last two weeks for the play offs
Now the incident. I had a discussion with a group of referees on Saturday, (the collective noun for referees is a “bitch” by the way), and we had a think about all the possible scenarios that could have happened.
1. What actually happened – North scores, Hughes strikes North, North is knocked out, red card for Hughes.
2. Hughes changes his running line, avoids North, try stands, we see what happens.
3. Hughes jumps over North and Lozowski likely treads on Lozowski or North as he goes over, but at least he’s trying to get out of the way. Try stands, we see what happens.
4. Hughes succeeds in kicking the ball out of North’s hands. TMO intervention rules that the try would have been been scored, penalty try and a yellow card for deliberate action in the act of scoring.
5. Hughes does exactly the same as he did and is deemed to be the centre of a horrible accident. Try stands… And we see what happens in the game.
Our majority consensus is that, actually, either the first or last one is the right call. Please hold your fire until I’ve finished the thought. Bearing in mind, the referees were (mostly) Saints fans and had considered the game pretty well refereed, this was the pivotal moment. Hughes did not go intentionally to kick North in the head, but the main issue we had was that Hughes had no right to be there. The tackle was made, but North would’ve been over the line anyway. The overhead shot shows the most damning evidence though. As North is a couple of feet from the line, Hughes is at least three metres away. He has time to pull out, or at least move away from North’s head. The outcome has been a deciding factor. If Hughes caught the shoulder, or North stood up straight away, we probably wouldn’t have been talking about it. As it is, the RFU have given Hughes a three game ban. I’ll let you decide if that is right or wrong
As I said though, it could well have been nothing at all. Not just the contact area, but it could have been seen as a horrible accident. The momentum of the big man is near impossible to stop and the momentum of a swinging leg is also difficult to stop. Perhaps this is the right call, but the wording of the young referee’s admonishment of Hughes suggested he thought it was a necessary action. No malice was involved, but there was definite recklessness involved.
As far as I’m concerned, the game was still a cracker, and this stain on the half doesn’t take away from the high skill level of the players involved. More credit should be given to Wade and Lozowski for their part in the excellence at the Gardens, and the Wasps team for keeping so close until the last quarter. It was a classic match, full of tries and excitement, and a great way to keep people switched on to the sport after the glorious end of the Six Nations. Long may it continue.
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