Bulls v Exeter Sat 5.30

[fivepointer]

Bulls: Arendse; Moodie, Simelane, Vorster, Kriel; Smith, Burger; Steenekamp, Grobbelaar, Smith, Vermaak, Nortje (capt), Van Staden, Carr, Louw.

Replacements: Du Plessis, Smith, Klopper, Swanepoel, Steenkamp, Papier, Goosen, Mapoe.

Exeter: Hodge; Nowell, Slade (capt), Kata, Woodburn; J Simmonds, S Maunder; Sio, Innard, Williams, Dunne, Jenkins, Ewers, Tshiunza, S Simmonds.

Replacements: Yeandle, Kenny, Iosefa-Scott, Kirsten, Fisilau, J Maunder, Skinner, O'Loughlin.

[stepsider]

Another dire ref call to red card Slade - s/b yellow at worst

[Timbo]

Got to think Slade will get that overturned by the citing panel. Can’t believe the other officials were just silent while the ref talked himself into that decision.

[Timbo]

Josh Hodge finally coming of age, btw. He’s been excellent these last few weeks. Honestly performing better than Hogg has done for Chiefs in a long time.

[FKAS]

That red card for Slade is a shocker, it's a penalty for a seatbelt tackle that's all.

[stepsider]

It was a substitute ref (the original had retired hurt a couple of minutes before).

But there's no excuse for another huge inconsistency.

[Puja]

That red card for Slade is a shocker, it's a penalty for a seatbelt tackle that's all.

Maybe a yellow, but it was ridiculous how the ref watched three angles of clear shoulder contact first, then watched one that was ambiguous which led to "That clearly shows it was direct head contact, not shoulder." Nonsense decision.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Inexcusably bad decision. I can forgive officials getting things wrong in real time during the hurly burly of a match but to get this wrong after replays clearly showed the initial contact was on the arm was pathetic.

[Mikey Brown]

Didn’t even see the incident, but it always feels to me (no I won’t back this up with any facts) that there are 1 or 2 of these following each high profile incident of a ref bottling it with the red card, and the resulting abuse.