Malcolm O'Kelly: Discipline to decide Ireland's quarter-final
Malcolm O'Kelly says Ireland's World Cup quarter final with New Zealand could be decided by a yellow or a red card.
And the former Ireland forward thinks World Rugby need to take another look at their punishments – after a record seven red cards in just the Pool stage.
No other World Cup has seen more than four red cards awarded, and this year's installment still has eight games to go.
With seven dismissals in the 29 matches played so far, at least one red card is statistically likely in the four games to be played this weekend.
“A red card [for New Zealand] would be good for Ireland,” O'Kelly said, with a smile. “But for me, that's the biggest downer of this World Cup, this ridiculous trend of continuing to penalise players and teams.
“It's so harsh, because it's so tricky for the players. These guys are top class tacklers, but to make that distinction from a dangerous tackle to a non dangerous tackle – it's just too fine a line.
“Perhaps we should use a black card option, so if a player gets sent off you can replace him, and then he can come back in next game.”
Bundee Aki's red card against Samoa was followed by a three match ban that essentially ends his tournament, and O'Kelly would put an end to this extended punishment also.
“Definitely, I would get rid of that,” he said. “What you're often seeing penalised is a player trying to make a positive tackle, which has come into the game in the last 10-15 years.
“Before that we just used to tackle and we'd fall down behind, but everyone would be offloading in the tackle if we do that now. These guys are trying to make a positive impact in the game, then they get a red card and the whole team is on the back foot, it's ridiculous.”
