All Blacks full-back Jordie Barrett is free to play in the Rugby Championship after his red card for a boot to the face of Australia winger Marika Koroibete was dismissed by a judiciary panel.
The decision has highlighted the vast differences in how rugby authorities punish offences, after a similar incident in the Gallagher Premiership in 2019 resulted in a six-week ban.
Barrett was sent off after making contact with Koroibete while jumping to catch a high ball in the 38-21 win over Australia at Perth Stadium on Sunday. This year’s Rugby Championship is being used to trial a new law which meant Barrett was replaced after 20 minutes by a player from the bench.
Governing body SANZAAR’s judicial hearing ruled the contact was inadvertent while Barrett lost his balance in the air.
“With no intent to lash out, the hearing cleared him of wrongdoing and removed the red card from his record,” SANZAAR said. “He legitimately went up in the air to collect a high ball, when in trying to regain his balance on the downward trajectory, his boot inadvertently made contact with his opponent’s head.
“The accidental nature of the incident lead the judicial committee to find that there was no intentional nor reckless act of dangerous play, with the result that the red card is expunged from the player’s record.”
As a result, the committee found Barrett not guilty of contravening Law 9.11, which states that players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others after a hearing in which the All Blacks brought in two expert biomechanists to give evidence.
Barrett’s action were defended by Ireland legend Brian O’Driscoll on Twitter following the match: “It is a totally natural action for the catching player to balance themselves out with an extended leg,” O’Driscoll wrote.
A different interpretation of a similar incident occurred during the Premiership in 2019, when Wasps’ Paolo Odogwu saw red for making contact with the head of Sale’s Rohan Janse van Rensburg while claiming a high ball. Odogwu was banned for six weeks by the RFU for “reckless” play.
Like Barrett, Odogwu claimed his outstretched leg was there to “assist his balance” but that was rejected by the independent panel even though they agreed that the contact with the face was unintentional.
“He did intend to use his outstretched leg to fend off a potential oncoming player and was reckless as to whether or not it made contact or caused injury.” independent panel chair Dan White said at the time.
“In this case the dangerous action of the player resulted in a minor injury to the Sale player.
“In our opinion this was nevertheless a top-end entry point; his disrespectful behaviour to the referee and crowd, after receiving the red card, only served to reinforce our view. His behaviour reflected poorly on the player and the game as a whole.”
Barrett is now free for Sunday’s match against Argentina on the Gold Coast as the All Blacks look for a third successive win in the competition.
“I’m just rapt with the outcome. They could see that I had no intent to hurt Marika in the game,” Barrett said after escaping a ban. “Just super lucky to avoid sanction and excited for the week ahead.”