Sir Clive Woodward has warned the Rugby World Cup could face 'madness' if refereeing decisions like the Freddie Steward red card are not fixed with immediate effect.
The England full-back was controversially given his marching orders by Jaco Peyper after bumping into Ireland's Hugo Keenan on Super Saturday. The sending off prompted outrage among many.
The red was rescinded by a review panel on Wednesday who deemed it only to be worthy of yellow.
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Woodward expressed his discontent with the whole fiasco in his column with The Daily Mail and issued a stark warning ahead of the World Cup.
"When Jaco Peyper and his fellow officials decided Steward should be sent off, the words used were that his collision with Keenan was a sending off in the 'current climate'. What on earth does that mean?" wrote Woodward.
"The only ‘current climate’ to the sport is that it is in meltdown. The officials are working off a tick sheet when it comes to making big decisions and they are terrified of making the wrong call or doing something to upset World Rugby which will affect their careers. That sums up the game as a whole at the moment."
With the World Cup less than six months away, Woodward wants referees to be realistic and given leeway with their decision-making to avoid another Steward scenario with the eyes of the whole world on the sport this autumn.
"I’d like to see referees given a framework to work within, but also the licence to be pragmatic within the rules<" he said. "Officials need to have an empathy for the game and make decisions accordingly. Anyone with rugby knowledge or experience knows the Steward-Keenan contact was what we would call a ‘rugby incident’. There was no intent or malice from either player.
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"What else could Steward have done? He told Peyper at the time: ‘I’m bracing for impact and I can’t go anywhere else. It’s milliseconds. I can’t react quickly enough'.
"He is spot on. Rugby needs to eradicate these mistakes now. We can’t have a repeat of the Steward scenario at big tournament games in France later this year.
"We need to see a shift in policy when it comes to refereeing collisions because we can’t have a repeat of the uncertainty and madness that has been shown by the Steward situation. We need an agent of change to stop rugby moving in the wrong direction and we need it now."
The World Cup kicks off on Friday September 8 with hosts France playing New Zealand at Stade de France.
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