Trying to avoid impact and protect himself after an Irish knock on.

By all means apply the protocol re head contact to tackles but surely it’s complete nonsense to apply it to the circumstances of this incident and similar.

The only time I have seen anything similar on a rugby field not red carded was Tipuric on Johnny McNicholl the first game of this season.

If he had made an attempt to wrap his arms in the tackle, maybe he would have got away with a yellow, but he didn't, so a red was the only option.

Tipuruc was clear red card the red card yesterday was a joke nothing he could have down to prevent the collision. 

Maybe not run into the other player. 

Edit: He’s a pro rugby player, they coach head to nearside hip from first contact sessions. It’s nobody’s fault but Stewards. He did nothing in that contact to mitigate despite it being accidental. Tough but fair treatment in my view. 

Steward was not red carded for the colliding with Keenan, he was red carded for a no arms shoulder charge tackle direct to the head. He could certainly have mitigated the situation by at least attempting to wrap his arms in the tackle, that would have reduced the card to yellow at worse.

Steward went into contact with the ball carrier leading with his shoulder and made no attempt to wrap his arms, which is against the Laws of the game. So maybe hitting Keenan in the head was accidental, but leading with his shoulder was not and once he made contact with the head, a red was inevitable.

whats your verdict on the card?

keenan hit his arm didnt he?

The biggest out come is that my spelling is red card worthy

dont know what you mean?

Then he is a skillful dirty player then Oracle.....I don't think so.

FWIW, I don't believe there was any intent from Steward, he had little opportunity to change his position. By the letter of the law it is a red, so some sort of sanction was necessary/inevitable in the current climate where player welfare is, quite rightly, a priority. You can argue whether that should have been red/yellow/pen 'til the cows come home. 

I would suggest it highlights their bias and problem solving.....all the years I've watched refs I've guessed their next move....honestly and so have you .

I dont think its the gender of the refs thats the problem, its the complex and ever changing interpretation of the Laws of the game. 

Whats needed is a return to enforcing the Laws as written, rather than enforcing the ever changing interpretations.

He started off by saying that the first thing you have to do is take the emotion out of your thinking. i.e. If your English your going to say yellow at worst if your Irish your going to say red every day of the week. This was clear with Woodward saying rugby incident and O'Driscoll saying red. You also have to remove '14 v 15 spoils a game' from your thinking also - these thoughts just get in the way of making the right decision.

He then went on to say that the ref has to deal with the facts as he sees them in the moment.  Peyper  felt that Steward could have done more to pull out of the contact. Having made that initial assumption, Nigel then went on to explain the series of facts as described by Peyper that led to the red card decision.  Our Nige said that given that thinking process it was difficult to argue against the red card.

Nige then went on to say that he could also understand the thinking that many had that Steward could NOT have done more to avoid the contact.  And if that's your starting point then the facts lead you to a yellow at worst and maybe even just a penalty.

He then went on to say that people would accuse him of siting on the fence but he said No - the reality is that you will always get these decisions that a ref makes in a smouldering cauldron of a game and there will always be debate in the cold light of day.

I thought that was an excellent summary.

I would suggest it highlights their bias and problem solving.....all the years I've watched refs I've guessed their next move....honestly and so have you .

You are correct , I have felt that sometimes the ref is against us (until SA14 tells me I'm wrong) but that is a different problem ...The point here is that the governing bodies have to back their referees , and stick to their decisions on the pitch , after all there are 4 of them plus back up staff ...if there is an issue with a biased ref then that's a different issue and needs to be addressed by the governing bodies

I still think on my first observation it was a yellow.

My thoughts exactly. Not intentional, but no attempt to wrap or avoid contact; elbow directly to head; 'victim' fails HIA.

A red all day under the current laws. If anyone doesn't like it - get the laws changed.

Then, the different interpretation can drive good change.