Former England prop Kyle Sinckler was bizarrely sin-binned in a case of mistaken identity during Toulon’s heavy Top 14 defeat to Toulouse on Sunday.
The experienced tighthead came on early in the second period but he could not reverse their fortunes as Les Rouge et Noir dominated the encounter.
Toulouse were 50-5 ahead going into the final two minutes and thought they had scored a try to move 55-5 in front.
Dupont loses possession
However, the television match official spotted a potential knock-on from Antoine Dupont in the build-up to the score, with replays showing him being tackled and then the ball spilling loose.
After several different angles were shown, it was decided that a Toulon hand had come through to cynically disrupt the ball on the floor, forcing Dupont to lose possession.
Sinckler was yellow carded for that act, but there was one problem – the prop was not anywhere near the ball. In fact, he was standing by the ruck and not involved in the tackle.
Instead, it was his fellow ex-England forward Lewis Ludlam who was the transgressor, but the officials somehow got the two players mixed up.
The referee explained the offence to Sinckler and issued him a yellow card, but the tighthead’s French is evidently not quite up to standard just yet.
A confused Sinckler took his punishment, though, and walked off the field before he eventually argued his case with the officials on the sideline while the game was going on.
Many felt that that Ludlam’s actions had no impact on Dupont and that referee Jeremy Rozier was wrong to issue the yellow card in any case.
“The yellow was for Ludlam playing the ball on the deck to force the knock-on, but didn’t look like there was anywhere near enough evidence to justify it,” journalist Paul Eddison wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
That decision was compounded by binning Sinckler, who wasn’t in the ruck at all.
Eddison then added: “Because of the language barrier, no way to explain that they had got it wrong.
“I could see where they were coming from initially, but definitely don’t think it was a yellow once you looked at multiple replays. Ruled out maul try also felt a little pedantic.”
One fan felt that it was the Dupont factor which resulted in action being taken by the officials.
First time I see this, a referee being scared by the reputation of a player. I hope this will not be repeated again, Dupont doesn’t need this.”
Some also thought that there was unconscious racism at play. After EK Rugby Analysis put, “can completely understand Sinckler’s frustration”, one person responded: “I don’t like to ref bash, but binning the wrong guy because he is black is not a good look.”
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