Right then, I've had the weekend to mull it over so here is my opinion on the Warburton case.
According to the letter of the law (10.4(j) specifically) then Warburton's tackle was indeed worthy of a red card - The lifted player is dropped to the ground from a height with no regard to the player’s safety.
However, that means that according to the same law then Richard Kahui's tackle should have been a straight red as well, or at the very least a yellow.
So, applying the laws as written Rolland got it right and Joubert got it wrong.
The problem is that the law is an ass. Almost all rugby followers, players, ex-players, commentators and writers agree that Warburton made a good tackle that went wrong and was worthy of a yellow while Kahui's tackle was an excellent hit that was worthy of a few pats on the arse at the next break in play. If the laws of the game are so out of touch with what the whole of the rugby community deem to be acceptable then surely they need a rethink.
If we ignore the post-match disciplinary hearings and possible suspensions for now they you have to realise that the on-field sanctions available for referees are exactly the same for both the Umaga/Mealamu vs O'Driscoll incident in 2005 and the Kahui vs Cooper one yesterday - and of course all shades of grey in between.
Nobody wants rugby to be unnecessarily dangerous but, to paraphrase Francois Pienaar, nobody wants it to turn into ballroom dancing either.
Taking into account things like the situation, intent, physics, the spirit of the game etc. (basically everything other than the pre-World Cup memo on dangerous tackles) then Rolland got it wrong while Joubert got it right. However, since the referee's job is to implement the laws of the game as written then why have the IRB given Joubert the final? Especially after Paddy O'Brien came out and publicly stated that Rolland was entirely correct in his decision?
Just for the record I don't blame Sam's red for Wales losing the game. While I firmly believe we would have won that game comfortably with Warburton on the pitch for the last 50 minutes we had plenty of opportunities to win the game with 14 players; it was James Hook and Stephen Jones that failed to get us over the line. Not just with the missed kicks but with piss-poor decision making and game-management from both of them. Hook is not an international 10, never has been, never will be and Jones - as great as he's been for us over the last decade - is probably past his sell-by date now. Priestland is definitely the future and he should have the keys to this team for a long time to come but unless Jason Tovey or Dan Bighead come good soon then we could be wafer-thin at outside-half.
Quick word for Toby Faletau as well, he's had a very good World Cup but he was immense against France doing both his own job and Sam Warburton's at the same time. Toby, Warburton and Lydiate have the talent and potential to be the best back row in the world in four years time. It's up to them to make sure they do it as in Wales the words "potential" and "talent" are far too often preceded by the word "wasted"
