What did we make of the Red cards last night in the Bath v Glaws game?
Thought the Glaws Red was harsh. He clearly lifted and led with his arm. But, had he not of it would have been a head on head contact, led by the Bath tackler deliberately choosing to remain high.
We saw exactly this happen in the second half, when Mike Williams led with his shoulder into the nose of the Glaws full-back. Fortunately, the FB was able to carry on. But it could have easily been a scenario where he couldn’t and it goes to show that if you don’t defend yourself, it’s easily to get injured from an illegal tackle - and why should that illegality penalise both teams (red card for one team and a player taken out of the game for another).
The Glaws fend was high, because the tackler was high. It wasn’t as though the Glaws prop bent low and led with his arm (which we’ve seen plenty of times before in games) to bump off an impending defender who is ready to tackle at chest or waist height.
For me, Barnes got it wrong yesterday looked at it too literally. There was mitigation (a Bath player opting to deliberately try and tackle high with a very high chance of a head on head clash). I wonder why it was never considered.