Exeter star sees red over Slade’s sending off
Exeter Chiefs captain Henry Slade received a red card for a 'high level of danger' tackle - but one of his teammates disagrees.
Luke Cowan-Dickie has slammed the decision to send off Exeter Chiefs teammate Henry Slade against the Vodacom Bulls yesterday, tweeting ‘how soft is rugby’.
The Chiefs skipper was red carded at the end of the third quarter for a tackle on Springbok flyer Kurt-Lee Arendse in a 10-try Champions Cup thriller at Loftus Versfeld. The Bulls won 39-28.
Henry was deemed to meet the threshold for a ‘high level of danger’, the call made by replacement referee Thomas Charabas who took over for an injured Mathieu Raynal (hamstring).
By this point the Bulls were up 27-14 but the Chiefs responded to outscore the home team 14-12 in the final half hour, before Wandisile Simelane’s second try of the match put the game out of reach for the visitors.
— Ruck Rugby🏉 (@RuckRugby) January 14, 2023
Cowan-Dickie, who missed the trip to SA due to an ankle injury and has been ruled out of the start of England’s Six Nations, took to social media to vent his frustrations with Charabas’ decision.
How soft is rugby 🙄
— Luke cowan dickie (@1_Dickie) January 14, 2023
His post got plenty of support from players and supporters.
How on earth?! 🤯
— Ollie Lawrence (@OLawrence1) January 14, 2023
Never a red card for Henry Slade, ludicrous decision. First contact is on the shoulder and he slides up pic.twitter.com/BgTe8FCkJV
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) January 14, 2023
A fan wrote: “Henry Slade and Exeter Chiefs ABSOLUTELY shafted. Disgraceful decision by another cowboy official.”
A second commented: “Henry Slade has been absolutely done there… Contact made with Kurt-Lee’s shoulder before sliding up. That’s borderline yellow, let alone red. Horrible decision making there.”
“No way is this ref debating a red card for Henry Slade!!!!! What a joke. That’s not even a yellow.” a third commented.
However, the 29-year-old hooker also took some flak for his rant.
Quite funny coming from an international rugby player that doesnt know how to tackle
— Bamsquad (@BoknRoll) January 15, 2023
Soft like this tackle? pic.twitter.com/aq0MDL6Hc7
— 🏉𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐮𝐠𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 (@AndreGeel) January 15, 2023
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