It is best that I have waited 36 hours before posting on the first World Cup semi-final. In the immediate aftermath of the biggest match Wales have played in my lifetime – and according to some, ever – emotions could have spilled over. Some things needed to be digested rather than discussed straight away.
There is no shortage of talking points that emerged from this heartbreaking defeat at Eden Park, with Sam Warburton’s red card springing to mind most easily.
Warburton was dismissed in the first quarter of the match for a tip tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc, a sending off that provoked outrage in Auckland, the Millennium Stadium, up and down Wales and among most rugby followers.
In a World Cup semi-final, in the opening exchanges. The Welsh captain, a professional, not a dirty player. He let go, he did not drive him into the ground. Unfortunately, the law has to be applied consistently, without regard for these apparent mitigating circumstances, and Alain Rolland felt he had no option but to issue a red card.
The main problem is that the law is not consistently applied. If it was, it could spell the end of big dump tackles. Rolland has form in this area, and treated Florian Fritz much more harshly in a Heineken Cup encounter. Rolland is also half-French, which hardly made it easier for Welsh and neutral fans to accept the dismissal.
The law is probably too strict, too narrow and proscriptive of allowing the referee to use common sense. Most observers would agree that a sin binning would be perfectly sufficient punishment for Warburton. Perhaps Rolland might have thought so. Unfortunately, he interpreted the tackle in such a way that meant he had to show red, not yellow.
The relevant part of the IRB’s Law 10.4 reads as follows: - The lifted player is dropped to the ground from a height with no regard to the player’s safety (red card offence). The crucial, and contentious, interpretation made by Rolland was that Warburton did not have regard for Clerc’s safety – but if that was the case, you would surely struggle to find an incident of such a spear tackle where there was any more regard for safety than the Welsh captain appeared to have.
The tears Warburton shed on the touchline and after the match endeared him to the watching public, including the 61,500 inside the Millennium Stadium, to an even greater degree. The sense of injustice vastly outweighed any potential anger at the captain himself for putting himself and the referee in that position.
Interestingly, the IRB have only suspended Warburton for three weeks despite their own directive mandating a minimum six-week ban. That reflected the lack of malice in the tackle and Warburton’s professionalism, but it also might fuel the fire of the arguments of the many who continue to insist that it should not have been a sending off or that the referee should have applied a touch of leniency, some common sense rather than directing all the post-match attention at himself.
All that said, though, Wales could and probably should have won. It would have been a truly heroic result if the fourteen men had managed to do so, but, despite falling just short, the squad has almost guaranteed hero-status for their gargantuan effort.
Nevertheless, the Welsh kicking, so good so far this tournament in comparison with most other teams (except, incidentally, the French) played a crucial factor.
James Hook, who was the weak link following Warburton’s departure, shanked a couple of kicks. The normally reliable Stephen Jones (who replaced Hook in a move that was met with a sigh of relief from the Millennium Stadium, who gave a huge ovation to the substitution) hit the post when attempting to convert Mike Phillips’ opportunists’ try. Leigh Halfpenny’s late long-range penalty effort was agonisingly close, dropping inches underneath the crossbar.
Wales’ traditional Achilles’ heel, the lineout, also haunted them. Huw Bennett suffered a severe case of the yips, failing to find his range all match. Wales lost six of their 19 throws, a factor that severely handicapped their attempts to reach their first ever World Cup final.
If they had reached that final, they would have faced an imposing New Zealand team who, in the end, comfortably held off the challenge from Australia. The All Blacks ran out 20-6 winners, and after the Wallabies were hit by an early Ma’a Nonu try – following brilliant work from Israel Dagg – there was rarely evidence that they would upset the hosts and favourites.
As it is, it will be a NZ-France final, a repeat of the 1987 tournament, also held in Aotearoa. The third-place play-off, Wales versus Australia, is also an exact replica of that inaugural competition.
A Wales-New Zealand final would have been epic. Wales are perhaps the only team in the tournament who could live with the All Blacks for intensity. The Welsh will also rarely get a better chance to get to the final or to dominate the British rugby psyche as they have done over the last week.
In some ways, if we cannot win the World Cup, perhaps it is better to have lost like this, heroically, with a nation – the whole UK, not just Wales – united behind the team in pride and admiration for the discipline, courage, character and high-class rugby they have displayed Down Under.
Whether Wales finish third or fourth, they will all return as heroes. Sam Warburton will not be vilified. He will be at the forefront of the public’s affection, despite his red card – or perhaps, because of the sympathy that sending-off evoked, even because of it.
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