Andre Esterhuizen was red-carded on Saturday for a tackle that didn’t even warrant a penalty, according to fans.
The Springbok was initially yellow-carded for a hit that left Portugal midfielder Jose Lima concussed, as the TMO deemed Esterhuizen had made head-on-head contact in the tackle.
The incident was referred for review to the TMO bunker and was subsequently upgraded to a red card, bringing Esterhuizen’s Test to a premature end.
In a poll run by SARugbymag.co.za, ‘Play on’ was the most voted for (35%) of the four possible outcomes while 29% of those polled believed a penalty would have been justified.
Less than 10% of the vote was in favour of a red card.
Commenting on the tackle in the post-match press conference, Portugal coach Simon Mannix described it as an ‘unfortunate incident’.
“South Africa are a really strong team across the board and my thoughts are just with Jose Lima who’s still in hospital tonight, these are unfortunate things in rugby,” he said.
“It was a head-on-head clash and I really felt for the player who got the red card, it was an unfortunate incident for everybody involved.
“But our thoughts are firmly with Jose, fingers crossed that everything’s alright and prayers are with him.”
The subsequent ban could rule Esterhuizen out of the opening two-Test leg of the 2024 Rugby Championship in Australia, with Rassie Erasmus set to name his squad for the tour on Tuesday.
Photo: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images
The post Esterhuizen tackle waved ‘play on’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
