Highlanders' Aaron Smith tackles Chiefs' Josh Ioane. Photo / Photosport
Highlanders' Aaron Smith tackles Chiefs' Josh Ioane. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Seven rounds into Super Rugby Pacific and the games involving New Zealand sides have not produced a single red card to date.
That's a statistic which is potentially indicative of there having been a technical awakening and that the message to tackle lower is finally getting through to players.
New Zealand's zero red cards is at odds with what has happened in Australia where three have been shown so far in their Super Rugby Pacific fixtures.
Throw in the fact that the All Blacks went through 2021 without a red card – Jordie Barrett's sending off in Perth for dangerous play was annulled after the game – and there is a picture emerging that players in New Zealand have accepted their obligation to rid the game of avoidable, damaging head clashes.
There will always be line of duty incidents such as the one in Dunedin which ended with Beauden Barrett leaving the field and no one being at fault, but World Rugby has been on a mission to differentiate those accidental impacts from the sort which carry a casual recklessness caused by either clumsiness or laziness on the part of the tackler.
Good technique leads to good outcomes and with no red cards shown for high and dangerous tackles, New Zealand does appear to be cleaning itself up quicker and more effectively than Australia.
But there is another possibility to consider which is that New Zealand's zero red cards is not indicative of a cleaner game, but a refereeing fraternity more willing to consider mitigating factors than their Australian officiating cohort.
The occasional bout of poor tackling technique is as much a problem in New Zealand as it is in Australia, it's just that it's more likely to face a lighter sanction on this side of the Tasman.
Last weekend was perhaps another example of how the two countries treat similar instances differently.
At Mount Smart Stadium, Moana Pasifika centre Levi Aumua rushed up on Wes Goosen to try to tackle the Hurricanes wing behind the gainline.
Aumua attacked the ball carrier at pace, had a good line of sight and never dropped his own body position to a safe height. Aumua's head clashed with Goosen's and the Hurricanes wing failed his HIA.
Referee Brendon Pickerill explained to Aumua that it would have been a red card, but for the fact the official was prepared to see a late dip and step by Goosen as mitigating factors to downgrade it to yellow.
Brendon Pickerill. Photo / Photosport
Across the Tasman there was no such leniency when Brumbies fullback Tom Banks swept across to tackle Toni Pulu.
There was a head clash caused by Banks being too high and referee Angus Gardner was content to say that the defender was never low enough to make a safe tackle and brandished a red card.
Just as referee Nic Berry wasn't prepared to find reasons to talk himself out of showing Dane Zander a red card after the Reds prop was guilty of leading with his shoulder to strike Waratahs player Ruan Smith in the head.
This discrepancy in rulings last weekend would be less troubling if it were not a continuation of a trend that was apparent last year, too.
When the Blues played the Crusaders at Eden Park, Ofa Tuungafasi and Kurt Eklund were yellow carded for dangerous tackles, but both should have been sent off according to the citing commissioner.
Hurricanes prop Tyrel Lomax avoided a red card when he drove his shoulder into the head of Reds prop Feao Fotau again on the basis that the body height of the ball carrier was a mitigating factor.
And then there were the two incidents in the Super Rugby Aotearoa final where Codie Taylor and Sevu Reece both could have been sent off for dangerous tackles but weren't.
Why New Zealand's referees are so often erring on the side of yellow rather than red is a mystery.
The game here in the last 18 months has been mostly well refereed: the best officials these days are consistent and clear and do a solid job, but for this one flaw of too readily seeing reasons to bring out the yellow rather than red card.
It's doing themselves and the players a disservice. Super Rugby is played under the ruling where teams can replace a sent off player after 20 minutes, so a red card is not the game killer it used to be.
The contest can remain credible if someone is sent off and subsequently replaced, something that is hard to say happened at Mt Smart when Goosen, the victim, never returned to play but Aumua did.
It's also, maybe, setting up New Zealand's players for a rude awakening when they play in Australia later next month and are exposed to a refereeing cohort that is less inclined to be swayed by possible mitigating factors.
No red cards in New Zealand so far may in fact signal that Super Rugby has not undergone the great technical tackle revolution that such a clean record suggests, but that referees here need to get tougher in how they apply the law.
