Rassie Erasmus: Refs made right call with regards to Jesse Kriel tackle

While many believe Springbok centre Jesse Kriel was lucky to avoid further sanction for a dangerous tackle against Scotland on Sunday, Rassie Erasmus says the referees made the right decision.

Kriel's tackle on Scotland No 8 Jack Dempsey in the opening minutes of the game has emerged as one of the major talking points following the Boks' 18-3 win, with many pointing out a lack of consistency on World Rugby's part after England's Tom Curry saw red for a head-to-head clash against Argentina less than 24 hours earlier.

Kriel's tackle was not picked up by any of the officials working the match, while he has also not been cited in the aftermath of the contest.

Speaking to the media on Monday, South Africa's Director of Rugby insisted it was the right decision, as the head contact only came after the collision between the two players.

"There definitely wasn't head-on-head contact, it was a tackle on the ball. He moved up after making the tackle on the ball," Erasmus said.

"I've seen a few stills where that were taken just after Jesse made direct contact on the ball. You can make any tackle like that look really bad. If you look a millisecond or a second or two back, you will see that he clearly tackled on the ball.

"So, yeah, we are very happy with how it was refereed. We are happy with the decision that was made. I will be very surprised that, with first contact on the ball, there will be anything from that."

Scotland fans and pundits had a very different view of the tackle, however, as summed up by former Scotland captain John Barclay, who described Kriel's let-off as "bizarre".

"The confusion is you hear captains speak to the referees and they say, 'We are always looking'. You are two minutes into the game and we've got an incident that is a red card. It's a red card," he said.

"He comes from a distance, clear line of sight, no drop in height and he applies force. It's head on head. That's a red card. The way the game is refereed now, whether you like it or not, that is a red card. And we saw a very similar incident last night (with Tom Curry) which was given as a yellow then upgraded in the bunker to a red.

"This is where the game gets a bit messy as in these instances where they look very similar, yeah from slightly different positions from a kick or whatever, but that's a red card. And the fact that has not even been seen or reviewed is inexcusable."

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