rugbywhisperer said:
Deary me oh my,
I heartily recommend you ALL go and do your Smart Rugby and go and ref (if you can) an under say - 14 game, west sydney, pretty working class atmosphere and see how you all come out.
I can guarantee you will ALL be emotional wrecks, scared for life and vow never to ref again and whatsmore, you will have far greater tolerance for these poor chaps and what they go through.
I know they make mistakes, everyone does - but until you have walked in their shoes be very mindful of what they might be going through.
Playing out here I know it for a fact RW.
Thing is, with the heat of the moment, the guy probably can't remember what he said verbatim. He should have had the nads at the time to say "no question - attacking the face - red card". Its easier to stick to a core truth than think about little details and a red card is pretty easy to remember. Then if at the hearing they find Burglar has no case to answer, fair enough - the judiciary or appeals committee can see WHY the card was ordered, but with the benefit of slowmo decide to go easy.
I agree with a previous poster - if Dickinson had been out there, in any capacity, it would have been red. If he was the assistant ref he would have recommended red without question. If he was the ref and heard those comments from Lawrence, then he would have heard "
at least a yellow" and decided to go red anyway.