South African referee Jaco Peyper has found himself at the centre of controversy following a crucial call in a Six Nations match over the weekend.

While Ireland was poised to take the trophy, France had a chance to snatch the title. England, with no claim to the title, could have assisted the French with a victory in Dublin. However, their chances were slim, and they were further hampered when they were reduced to 14 men on the stroke of half-time.

Hugo Keenan gets an elbow in the face

The incident occurred after the whistle had gone following an Irish knock-on. The players were still in motion, and Hugo Keenan and Freddy Steward clashed. While a couple of players blocked Jaco Peypers’ view of the incident, a sharp blow of the whistle brought an end to play after the South African spotted the Irish fullback on the floor and in some discomfort.

The Television Match Official (TMO), Marius Jonker was then called into action. The replay showed that the Irishman’s face connected with the elbow of Steward.

Watch the two fullbacks clash here:

Peyper saw no mitigating factors

Steward pleaded his case to Jaco Peyper, saying he was ‘bracing for impact, and couldn’t go anywhere else’. Unfortunately, the appeals were in vain. Peyper had already decided that the Englishman would have to take an early shower.

“In the current climate, you were upright, you were into contact, you have time to turn your shoulder, direct contact to head – it’s high-level danger,” said Peyper before taking the red card out of his pocket.

On the field and in the heat of the match, Jaco Peyper deemed that there was no mitigation. The Six Nations disciplinary committee disagreed with Peyper on that fact. They deemed that there were ‘sufficient mitigating factors’, which saw the sanction drop down to yellow.

The Statement read as follows:

“The player denied that he had committed an act of foul play worthy of a red card as described in Law 9.11. Having reviewed all the evidence, the Committee decided that: (i) head contact with an opposing player had occurred; (ii) there had been an act of foul play in breach of Law 9.11 in that the Player had been reckless in his actions and in his upright positioning as he approached and came into highly dangerous contact with the other player; and (iii) there were sufficient mitigating factors including the late change in the dynamics and positioning of the opposing player which should have resulted in the issue of a yellow card rather than a red card.”

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