14 men joke losing its humour

THE joke about Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus developing a secret plan to win by sending only 14 men onto the field to start is becoming less funny.

- Robert Byrne

At the weekend, it was against Italy; the week before, against France, the refereeing decisions against the Boks seemed close to being brutally wrong, and it’s a marvel that our guys somehow scraped through.

Is it not time the international rugby authorities did something to remove this marginality? Rule a red card by all means, but let a substitute come on straight away and allow the match to continue as an even contest.

The guilt or otherwise of the alleged offender can be decided at a later stage by a panel with the benefit of slow-motion film, repeated if necessary.

The appropriate punishment could also be decided at that later stage. But the team itself should surely not be punished for a quite possibly unintentional transgression.

The Boks — and their supporters — can be very thankful that they survived these two glitches unscathed.