Both players lunging

[bester]

These can be so hard to judge. With the player reaction it wouldn't be hard to believe the referee had been swayed. A straight red was shown.



Ignore the alleged comments of the referee, as the Ilford timeline looks a bit creative..

https://twitter.com/x/status/2111361648212476102

 

[ARF]

Tough one to call in real-time. By the letter of the law you could make the argument that both players have challenged recklessly, or that both players have lunged in with excessive force/in a manner which is endangering an opponent's safety. In practice, Blue (just) got there first, and subsequently Yellow's lunge has resulted in him putting his studs into Blue's ankle/calf. I'm fine with the SFP call for Yellow. Theoretically you could caution or even send off Blue, but I wouldn't. Either Blue #8 or Blue #20 would be going to the sin bin for 10 minutes for being the first ones in surrounding the referee.

 

[Tealeaf]

A reverse angle on this is the clincher I think. Hard to judge the point of contact accurately- but can guess at it well enough. But from the 180 degree angle I’d imagine it looked nasty.

 

[one]

Tough one to call in real-time.

A reverse angle on this is the clincher I think. Hard to judge the point of contact accurately- but can guess at it well enough. But from the 180 degree angle I’d imagine it looked nasty.

Even with replay or different angles it will be tough. I'd say equally reckless from both players. The only to thing to watch out for is not to be leaniant on the player who does the most rolls on the ground.