An interesting VAR comparison with Rugby Union in the recent 6N Irl-Fra game. France tighthead prop Uini Atonio went in on Rob Herring and his shoulder slid up almost instantly to eventually connect with Herring’s jaw. It happened in a split second.
It was a red card all day long to us watching, the type of incident that World Rugby is looking to banish from the sport.
With the assistance of the video ref, the on-field ref applied the letter of the (complicated) tackle law and just gave a yellow. The mic captured his rationale and (legally) he was spot on. But the law is inadequate in hindsight. Rob Herring went off for a HIA and basically suffered a brain injury.
The thing is that Football’s offside law is daft when a fingernail offside counts as a foul. Having to draw lines on the VAR screen to measure millimetres is just ridiculous.
When the law is plainly an ass – change the law.
In generlal, the video reffing works very well in rugby. No great complaints.