Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has labelled Damian Willemse’s red card against Cardiff as a “disaster”.
The Springboks utility back missed a chunk of the Stormers’ season through injury but has returned in red-hot form.
He continued in that vein on Friday evening with a sterling display at full-back until the hour mark when he was given his marching orders for a dangerous tackle on winger Gabriel Hamer-Webb.
Damian Willemse’s red card
At the time, the Stormers held a 24-10 lead over Cardiff, who also had a man on the sidelines after prop Danny Southworth was red-carded 30 minutes earlier for his tackle on Neethling Fouche.
Hamer-Webb was met in the tackle by Stormers winger Leolin Zas, but Willemse also made contact with the Cardiff speedster, making direct contact with the head.
That left referee Gianluca Gnecchi with no choice when he reviewed the tackle with TMO Andrea Piardi, as he issued the red card, with Cardiff also scoring a try, as Hamer-Webb was able to get his pass away to Harri Millard before the contact, leading to the score that cut the deficit to seven points.
The sending off now means that Willemse is likely to be suspended for the Stormers’ first play-off match at the very least, with the back likely to get a three-game ban, which could be reduced by one week by completing World Rugby’s Coaching Intervention program.
“I haven’t seen it enough to comment on what the impact of Zas’ tackle was,” Dobson said in the post-match press conference.
“It was our fault. I don’t know if it was enough [for mitigation], he was stuck, he didn’t get released by the inside man.
“I don’t think he was trying to hit with the shoulder, think he was trying to turn.”
Poor outcome expected
Dobson doubts that they will be able to overturn the decision and have Willemse available to him in the first knockout match, as he will be suspended.
“The implications, I’m sure, are going to be poor for us. I’ve got no doubt,” he continued.
“We can’t appeal until there is a decision; we can decide if we wait for a hearing or go straight to a judicial officer. If we do the latter, we may have more of a chance with the sanction, but there will be a sanction.
“I don’t see them overturning that unless Zas has clearly caused the height to come down, but it’s a disaster for us.”
The Stormers’ win over Cardiff sealed fifth position for the Cape Town-based out, with a quarter-final against Coastal rivals the Sharks on the cards, depending on how results fall in the final weekend of action.
Alternatively, they could face Glasgow Warriors or the Bulls.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/john-dobson-damian-willemses-red-card-is-a-disaster-as-stormers-boss-predicts-poor-outcome
