There was plenty of confusion among coaches and officials alike around the red card rule in the Sharks’ thrilling Currie Cup semi-final draw with the Bulls.
Despite finishing 40- all at Loftus Versveld, the Durban franchise advanced to the 2024 Currie Cup final courtesy of scoring more tries in the contest.
But that wasn’t the only new rule that benefitted the visitors, who will now tackle the Lions in the climax.
Sharks’ centre Francios Venter was shown a red card after head-on-head contact in the 65th minute, effectively ruling him out for the rest of the contest. This meant that the Sharks were down to 12 men at one point.
However, when the match was forced into extra time, he came back into play. This edition of the Currie Cup is trialling 20-minute red cards which allows the red-carded player to be replaced after that time.
Given the tense situation, Sharks coach John Plumtree revealed that there was some confusion around the law.
“There was no real stage of the game where I sat there comfortably in my seat,” the Kiwi told rugby365.com.
“I actually didn’t know the rules – Lionel [Cronje] had to kick it [the conversion to tie] because we had more tries.
“There was a fair bit of chat on the sidelines around the red card replacement after 20 minutes. The officials really didn’t know what was going on there as well.
“I think it must be the first time it has happened in the Currie Cup. I don’t think either coach was feeling comfortable at any stage.
“It was only when we phoned our referee who helps us out in Durban and he said, ‘Yes the red card can be replaced after 20 minutes’.
“We got that message on and then they [officials] said, ‘Yes okay’.
“There was a lot of confusion on the sideline. I don’t blame the referee for that. I think the officials on the sideline need to be better than that because it added to the stress in that moment and we didn’t know if we could get Lili Bester on.”
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