Ashley Johnson will be hauled before the judicial officer this Thursday to answer a citing complaint over his dangerous tackle in the first minute of Wasps’ game against Leinster, in which he took Dave Kearney out in the air. View the incident below.
Kearney hurt his shoulder and had to leave the field, and is set to miss some of the Six Nations. Jerome Garces, the same man who showed Jared Payne a red card last year for a similar offence on Alex Goode, only showed Johnson a yellow card, but do you think he deserved more? Vote in our poll below.
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8 replies on “Poll: Should Ashley Johnson be banned for dangerous tackle on Kearney?”
That’s the first time I’ve seen that since the game clashed with one I was playing in – and it looks bad from that clip.
He doesn’t seem to be aware of Kearney at all which is a real problem. You don’t see him on the screen until really late though – is there a clip from a different angle? Possibly where you see Johnson in the shot sooner?
Based on that clip alone – I’d say he should be banned and was lucky not to see red.
Can’t get the video to play!
56 people voting no? Who are these people? Regardless of angles it was a dangerous “tackle” you don’t need a wider angle to tell that Kearney was in the air and Johnson took him out. That’s a straight red and a ban. My feeling is Garces thought about the occasion rather than the offence. HE didn’t want to be accused of ruining the spectacle of a winner takes all clash.
I voted no. In slow mo its less than half a second from when Kearney leaves the ground and Johnson hits him. Johnson was at full tilt and was committed before he left the ground. Its a yellow – If Kearney wasn’t injured then this wouldn’t even be news.
He shouldn’t have been committed.
Pro players practice this every day, both the jumping catch and the kick chase. He has no excuse.
I accept his timing was wrong, but in this technique, timing has to be policed rigidly.
I voted yes. But it is sad to see the players appealing to the referee for a penalty before even checking if the injured player was ok. Stinks of wendyball if you ask me.
I saw this live and from all angles. Definitely red and a ban. Johnson made no attempt to go for the ball and deliberately ran in under the jumping player, executing a dangerous tip tackle. Said when I first saw it that it should have been red; all the reviews have only strengthened my conviction.
What I can’t understand is that this is the same referee who dealt with a very similar incident correctly when he red-carded Jared Payne. He was villified at the time and then probably proven to have been correct. Also, I fail to understand why he chose not to look at a replay?