MARK KEOHANE | Sink the Bismarck, not the entire team

Punish the player, but don’t punish the team because of the player. And don’t punish the sport because of one player.

Take the action of Bulls replacement hooker Bismarck du Plessis as just one example of the red cards issued at the weekend.

Du Plessis was guilty of disregarding his opponent’s safety when he dropped him to the ground after picking him up and lifting him above the horizontal. There was no question this demanded an immediate send-off.

But Du Plessis’s moment of madness extended to his 14 teammates having to bear the brunt of his stupidity. It should not be that way if rugby union, as a professional sport, is to sell itself as a contest.

A team sport can never be a contest if there is a mismatch in numbers.

Red and yellow cards must have a place in the game, regardless of the level, but their purpose should be to keep the individual honest and punish the indiscretion of the player.

I am not for a moment advocating that a player who commits a cynical and deliberate professional foul should be allowed to stay on the field. Equally, one guilty of foul play.

I am arguing for a game of rugby where 15 start against 15 and 15 finish against 15.

Nearly every second match report headline is characterised by “Team X beat 14-man Team Y ...”

The paying public and those who invest time and emotion in following the sport want a fair contest when it comes to numbers. There can never be a true measure of a contest when there is an imbalance here.

The biggest rugby match on Saturday was England’s Six Nations showdown with Ireland at Twickenham. The contest was over after 82 seconds when an English forward was red-carded because of a head clash with his Irish opposite, the merits thereof aside.

England’s players, defeated 32-17 through two converted Irish tries in the final eight minutes, have been lauded for their bravery in being competitive for 72 minutes.

What bollocks.

The player should have suffered the brunt of his action through a sending off and a disciplinary on Monday, after which he should have copped whatever ban if found guilty. Not the team. He should have been replaced.

For example, if a player has two red cards or four yellow cards, he is suspended from playing for the rest of the season, which will influence salary and worth in any club/province or national side

Put the player in the firing line and make him accountable.

Rugby has to be thinking about the bigger picture and giving the public a contest.

The custodians of the game can’t just shrug their shoulders and ask coaches to ensure their players’ discipline is such that they never commit yellow- or red-card offence.

We know it is going to happen, but the more the individual cops the punishment through suspension and loss of income, the less it will happen.

The player, having seen yellow or red, must know there is a consequence to any illegal action.

The onus is then on the player to get it right the next time if he wants a future in the game.

But the game will struggle to have a future if it becomes a numbers game based on a potential early sending off, as happened at Twickenham.

Mark Keohane is the founder of Keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the digital content director at Highbury Media. Twitter @mark_keohane