“He picks the player and drops the shoulder. Yellow card.”
Wales player Josh Adams narrowly avoided a red card for his foul on Johnny Sexton against Ireland on Saturday. Ireland were the dominant side in the Six Nations opener at the Aviva Stadium and cruised to a 29-7 win.
However, the margin of victory may have been even greater had Adams been sent off for his robust challenge on the Ireland captain.
Josh Adams only receives yellow card for challenge on Johnny Sexton.
In the second half of the match in Dublin, Tomos Williams kicked the ball into space for Adams to collect. The ball bounced between the Wales number 13 and Sexton.
Adams led with his shoulder and smashed into the Ireland captain, who dropped to the ground. The Wales player appeared to ignore the ball and instead slammed into his opponent.
The incident went to the TMO, and Adams, eventually, was given a yellow card.
It appeared as though the player would receive a red card, but a conversation between the referee and the TMO explains why it was only deemed a yellow.
After many, many, many video replays, Josh Adams is sinbinned for leading with the shoulder into Johnny Sexton. #IREvWAL #rtesport
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According to the match referee Jaco Peyper, if Adams had made contact with Sexton a few inches higher – and hit his head – he would have been sent off.
“Do you want to look at that, or is it both players going hard at the ball?” the South African referee said to the TMO.
“Play it real speed… He’s looking at the player, isn’t he? No intention to play the ball… He’s looking at the player. Leading shoulder… Not a head-contact basis. He picks the player and drops the shoulder. Yellow card.”
Sexton recovered from the tackle and was replaced after 65 minutes by Joey Carbery.
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