Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White has indicated his side will try and get the red card to midfielder David Kriel overturned, as they move on to face Scarlets on Friday night and need to find a new midfielder for the game.
Kriel was red-carded early in the second half in an incident that has been widely debated whether it should have been a card at all. His hand-off was initially flagged as being fine by the referee Eoghan Cross and the television match official but after tv screens at the game showed replays that infuriated the crowd and caused him to relook at it and decide to give a red card.
White said the call had a “massive effect on the game” and said they would be looking at trying to overturn it at the disciplinary that will happen this week.
“It was obviously a massive effect on the game, because it was our ball, and we were carrying it into contact, and suddenly we were 14 men,” White said after the game but praised his players for grinding out the win despite the cards.
David Kriel is sent off 🟥
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 12, 2024
What are your thoughts on this moment? 👇
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“Credit to the players because the last 10 minutes, as good as the first half was, those last 10 minutes of defence with 13 players were outstanding.”
Asked how he would handle the discipline issues, especially with yellow cards to Elrigh Louw for an attempted intercept and a clash of heads - which was accidental - after an Ospreys player was tackled into Alulutho Tshakwani, White was perplexed at how it could be seen as a disciplinary issue.
“I mean, someone tackles a player back into Alulutha's channel and he's upright because he didn't expect the guy to be standing in front of him two seconds after the guy got tackled. So, you know, it's not a case of discipline. I really don't think that's because players are doing their own thing or they're not listening or they're shooting out of line.
🗣️ "If he hadn't put his arm out and they clashed heads, the red card would have gone the other way."
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 14, 2024
Jake White on David Kriel's red card against the Dragons 🟥 pic.twitter.com/wBATrDrI26
“I mean, David carried the ball into contact to a 10 who is 5'2", and David is 6'4". So, you know, that thing happens. I actually asked the ref if David hadn't put his arm out and the 10 had hit his head, would the 10 have got a red card? And the ironic thing is the 10 didn't go off.
"So, you know, I've seen red cards and I can't argue with it. But I mean, the 10 stayed on the field because, to quote the referee, because he got hit in the throat.”
OVERTURNING THE RED CARD
White said that he would look at overturning Kriek’s dismissal through the channels.
“Firstly, we’re going to have a look at it and see what channels we can go through to see what the outcome is,” said White, who now faces a selection poser ahead of the Scarlets game.
“We’re no different from other teams who have injuries or losing international players. Over a period of 21 games in this competition, you’re going to have to have contingency plans.”
This has been compounded by the fact that Elrigh Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp both failed their HIAs and were ruled out basically for most of the remaining time on tour and then would head back to the Springboks.
“Failing an HIA doesn’t mean you’re out for six weeks, it might be 12 days. If it’s 12 days, they’ll be available for Springbok duty,” he said. “What I do know is it’s a given that neither of them will be able to play next week.”
White confirmed that Devon Williams would be joining the squad but stopped short of saying if there would be other replacements.