Lachie Swinton might have earned himself some unwanted history, but his coach Dave Rennie says the blindside flanker made a “real announcement” on the international stage with his abrasive performance during the Wallabies’ remarkable 24-22 win in Brisbane.
Swinton became the first player in Wallabies history to be shown a red card on debut.
The Waratahs flanker was given his marching order by Australian referee Nic Berry in the 35th minute – 12 minutes after All Black Ofa Tu’ungafasi was also shown a red card for a shot on Tom Wright – after a reckless shot on Sam Whitelock. At the time, the All Blacks had just levelled the scores at 8-8 after a Jordie Barrett penalty.
Swinton made direct contact with Whitelock’s jaw with his right-shoulder, with the Wallaby paying the price for failing to get lower with his tackle technique.
World Rugby has zero tolerance for dangerous play in the modern game, and Swinton’s tackle is exactly the reckless technique that the governing body is trying to eradicate.
Despite making the Wallabies’ efforts of posting their maiden win of the year all the more difficult by copping a red card, Rennie said that Swinton delivered his side exactly the physicality he craved.
“I thought Lachie made a big statement in the 30-odd minutes that he was on the field,” Rennie said, when asked for his assessment on the Wallabies’ three debutants.
“Everything that we asked of him bringing a bit of edge; what we know about tackle, around clean, around work-rate, he was massive.
“He’s pretty disappointed (with the red), but he made a real announcement on the international stage.”
Swinton’s red card once again divided the rugby community.
Former Wallaby Stephen Hoiles questioned the red cards.
“Honestly, neither of those decisions should be Red cards,” Hoiles said.
“If it’s technically “correct” and within the laws then change the laws. What a joke they’ve allowed the Sport of Rugby to become. 1st 40mins has taken an hour already with excessive stoppages and over officiating.”
But Rennie had no issues with the officiating.
“In the end we’ve got to deal with the law,” he said.
“The law says contact with the head starts at a red card, so it’s a safety issue and hard to argue with both decisions made.
“What we don’t want in our game is reckless tackles and all we want is consistency as well, so it was hard to argue once they got a red card that ours wasn’t a red card, so we’ve just got to take that on the chin.”
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, who only a day earlier had acknowledged that Swinton’s hot-headed nature was a “work-on”, backed the call too and said player safety was paramount.
“We don’t train to tackle around the head,” Hooper said.
“We’ve got to talk about player safety, so that’s why the rule’s in there not to make contact with the head. We want our players playing as long as we possibly can in this game, so if that’s the interpretation, that’s what’s coming down from up top, we’ve got to be better.
“We don’t want to lose a guy for 50 minutes again, so we’ve got to be better and tackle lower.”
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