Japan head coach Eddie Jones has hit out at the cards issued in his side’s defeat to Wales, as well as Franco Mostert’s in the Springboks’ win over Italy.
The Brave Blossoms were given two yellow cards in the first half of the 24-23 defeat, with Epineri Uluiviti sent to the sin bin for thumping Alex Mann off the ball, while Faulua Makisi spent 10 minutes on the sideline for poor tackle technique on Dan Edwards.
Harry Hockings, who was making his Test debut, was also yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle, while Wales winger Josh Adams had a yellow card upgraded to a red for a dangerous clearout.
World Rugby need to act
Speaking after the match, Jones did not hold back in sharing his views on the events that unfolded at the Principality Stadium.
“The only thing that anybody ever remembers is the scoreboard,” he said. “That tells the story, congratulations to Wales and Steve Tandy – that is a good win for his side and I am sure he will want to get better.”
Zoning in on the officiating calls and sin-binings, he continued: “It is almost farcical now, the sin-bin situation. We are absolutely ruining the game of rugby.
“I didn’t see any of those actions as being reckless. Penalties? Fair enough, let’s have penalties, of course we’ve got to have penalties. ”
The head coach then delivered a stinging sledge at the Welsh Rugby Union.
“At one stage, we were down to 13 men, they got a red card, and they were down to 14 men. The game of rugby is about 15 players on the field, and I think World Rugby should be looking at this very closely,” he said.
“And if I were a fan, I’d be asking the Welsh Rugby Union for my money back, but they can’t afford it, so they’re not going to give it back.”
Springboks greats accuse officials of ‘fabricating’ events to red card Franco Mostert
It’s becoming absurd
Jones managed to catch one of the earlier Saturday kick-offs and weighed in on Franco Mostert’s red card for a dangerous tackle on Paolo Garbisi.
Unlike the incidents in Cardiff, the Bok lock was issued with a permanent red card for his shot on the Italian fly-half.
“I saw the Italy game and Mostert. A guy gets chopped in front of him, he is 6ft 8 and tries to drop his height and his shoulder gets contact with the head of the player and is red carded,” he remarked.
“It is becoming absurd.”
Commenting on the final five minutes of his team’s game, where Japan gave up a two-point advantage with Jarrod Evans slotting a clutch penalty in the 82nd minute.
“I wanted to kill someone, Anybody I could find. If I had a gun, I would have. No, I’m only joking,” Jones said.
“It’s tough to lose in the last five minutes. The ground here is electric, you need to handle the pressure and we didn’t. We had a lead and we should have been able to keep it. But I’m proud of the team.”