Ireland made a remarkably strong start to their Six Nations campaign on Friday night, claiming a bonus point 38-17 victory over France in the bearpit of Marseille.
With both sides suffering from the post-World Cup blues, this game marked the first opportunity to get back to winning ways. It could hardly have gone better for Ireland, and France will be left scratching their heads after failing to show up whatsoever for the opening game of the tournament.
One man who will have a lot of self-reflection to do is French second-row Paul Willemse, who was sent off after just half an hour for a ludicrous repeat offence.
After just eight minutes, Montpellier lock Willemse was yellow-carded for a questionable hit to the face of Andrew Porter.
France could be down to 14 for the rest of this game. Paul Willemse is in a spot of bother over this high hit on Andrew Porter 🤔 #FRAvIRE #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/MVmyIR2thV
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) February 2, 2024
The Frenchman was initially sent to the sin bin for the tackle, with referee Karl Dickson recommending a bunker review to potentially upgrade the punishment to a red card.
Alan Quinlan on commentary for Virgin Media certainly felt that an upgrade to red was in order, and there was a sense that Willemse had gotten away with one when the decision was made to allow him to return to the field of play after the ten-minute sin bin period was completed.
Any perceived injustice was soon to become irrelevant, however. Astonishingly, mere moments after being readmitted to the field of play, Willemse launched into a second dangerous hit on Caelan Doris. He was shown a second yellow card and sent off - with the TMO bunker later upgrading the punishment to a straight red, bringing the threat of a longer suspension.
Paul Willemse is a silly, silly boy. Two very poor tackles sees him achieve the rare rugby feat of two yellow cards in the same game 😬 #FRAvIRE #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/45HwJUXzqI
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) February 2, 2024
The Virgin Media panel of Shane Horgan, Rob Kearney, and Andrew Trimble assessed the incident at full-time and said that the blurred lines between the incidents summed up a worrying officiating trend that has emerged since the Rugby World Cup.
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France v Ireland: Paul Willemse shown red card for repeated dangerous tackles
Protection of the head has become a major priority in rugby in recent years and that campaign has led to many contentious red cards on the biggest stages.
Though some fans were frustrated with the amount of red cards being handed out, there was at least consistency across the 2021 and 2022 Six Nations campaigns as to what justified a sending off when it came to contact with the head. Speaking on Virgin Media at full time on Friday, a trio of Irish rugby legends shared their concern that that is no longer the case.
Andrew Trimble said that he feared the World Cup, and the contentious red card decisions with occurred during that tournament, had blurred the line somewhat as to what a red card offence was:
The World Cup, I think, ruined this for us all. At that stage, everybody went, 'well this is a lottery.' It's very difficult to anticipate or have any kind of standard or understanding of the framework or what to expect off the back of it.
I think, to me, they both look like red cards.
You try and predict these things and it's just very, very difficult. There's just no consistency with what we're seeing.
Shane Horgan agreed with Trimble that both of Willemse's tackles on Friday justified straight red cards.
The panel discuss Paul Willemse two yellow card incidents in that first half:
🗣 "There's just no consistency in what we're seeing."
🗣 "They were both clear reds!"
🗣 "It's an absolute lottery now."#FRAvIRE | #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/TdzuNjxsJO— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 2, 2024
He also suggested that World Rugby had chosen to "soften" the rules to avoid too many games being defined by red cards at last year's World Cup:
They're both reds. Before the World Cup, that isn't a debate.
There was definitely a rowback from the previous, quite strict and draconian position that was there, and necessary to be there. For the World Cup, I think they were worried about the spectacle of too many players getting sent off.
They softened the rules and we're seeing the consequences of it now.
How much did Porter drop? He [Willemse] went straight into his head! That's what we're trying to eliminate from the game, let's not step back from that. If they keep flipping and flopping, it creates these discussions.
Though he did not believe that both of Willemse's tackles had justified red cards, Rob Kearney would agree with his fellow pundits on Virgin Media that the definition of a red card offence had become frustratingly vague in recent months.
Paul Willemse missed the Rugby World Cup through injury and so would have been eager to make an impact on his return to the French team in Marseille.
To the best of our knowledge, Willemse is only the second player in test rugby history to receive two yellow cards in the same game - Scott Barrett blazing the trail at Twickenham during last summer's World Cup warm-up between New Zealand and South Africa.
For both yellow cards to have been awarded for the same offence, with both committed in quick succession, is unforgivable at test level.
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