Ireland fall foul of new croc roll law, but was the wrong man carded?

As a colleague pointed out, it was a mad auld game and one in which the Irish captain Caelan Doris was binned in the second half. Doris was also one of the best Irish players on the pitch. But should it not have been James Ryan set to the line and not the Irish number eight?

The crocodile roll, which was the rucking technique used, is illegal, a measure in place to protect players from injury. The new law is largely accepted as being a good thing.

Players use it because the defender who’s very low and over the ball at the tackle area is incredibly difficult to remove. The crocodile roll is also one of the aspects of the game that World Rugby describes as “the action of rolling/twisting/pulling of a player on their feet in the tackle area”.

The technique puts tremendous pressure on the knee joint, sometimes catastrophically so. In 2021 England backrow Jack Willis endured a horrific injury against Italy during the Six Nations championship. Willis was heard crying out after his knee was almost destroyed following a clearout. Television declined to show replays of the incident, which took place in Twickenham.

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But when Doris went into the tangle of bodies, he had just begun to make the illegal tackle had just begun to execute the move. Ryan quickly followed Doris into the breakdown area and it was the lock who, if you like, took over from Doris in the movement and completed the more dangerous part by rolling Malcom Marx away to one side.

The Springbok was not injured but in the discussion between English referee Karl Dickson and the TMO, they decided that Doris was the main culprit although Ryan appeared to do the lion’s share of the work. They decided that both players cannot be binned and saw Doris as the leading instigator and therefore the player who should take full blame.

Thoughts as Doris left the pitch were that this decision could be fatal for Irish chances of staying ahead under growing pressure from the World Champions, who had been chasing the match from the beginning.

Playing with 14 men, they conceded only two penalties for a six-point swing to South Africa. The score went from Ireland leading 12-16 to Ireland chasing for the first time in the game with the score at 18-16.

at this stage, we all know what happened next.