Schalk Burger’s ‘biggest issue’ with red and yellow cards… ‘Springboks-Ireland game should have had 10’
Referee Matthew Carley and an inset of ex-Springbok Schalk Burger.
Legendary Springboks flanker Schalk Burger believes there is a big issue in World Rugby’s framework for foul play, as it has resulted in too many yellow and red cards.
The 2025 Quilter Nations Series has been littered with controversial incidents like the red cards issued to Tadhg Beirne, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Harry Hockings and James Ryan.
And Burger believes that the reason there have been so many cards this November is that the sanctions begin at a red or yellow card and then are only mitigated, meaning that the player is always guilty.
“The biggest issue is still that the rugby player starts off being guilty, and then you’ve got to find mitigation the other way. So it’s red or a red or yellow card, that’s your entry level,” he said on The Verdict podcast.
Bar fight match
The 86 Test cap former loose forward’s comments came off the back of referee Matthew Carley issuing six cards during the match between Ireland and South Africa, five of which to the hosts, including a red card to James Ryan.
Burger says that the Springboks were fortunate that only Grant Williams was carded during the match, as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu escaped further punishment than a penalty for his tackle on Tommy O’Brien.
“You look at the weekend’s game, we were lucky with Sacha from what we’ve seen so far in November, with a tuck shoulder, that must have been a yellow card against South Africa, but then you look at Ireland complaining about the four yellows and the red,” he said.
“A penalty try given without a yellow card, O’Brien’s tackle on Canan Moodie’s, that definitely reaches the yellow card threshold. In the second half, there was a continuation of penalties given away from the scrum, and off the back of that at the breakdown too. You can argue that they could have had another penalty try, a yellow card, plus another yellow card in the second half.
“So, I don’t think there’s any justification from the Irish public to say that referee Matthew Carley was wrong…
“The game was best described by a mate of mine, he said that it was a bar fight that started at the bar, then ran over the pool tables, the Springboks chased the Irish into the toilets and credit to the Irish because they kept the toilet door closed, not to get completely obliterated. So they showed some proper resilience, but it was a bar fight. It was bullying, and it’s only the Springboks that can do that to teams.”
There has been a real frustration around the consistency and sheer number of cards in this international window, particularly after World Rugby adjusted the application of the permanent red card to include actions that are ‘always illegal’, bringing it in line with the head contact process.
Previously, the permanent red card was just for acts of thuggery like punching, kicking, head-butting, etc, with dangerous tackles resulting in an on-field yellow card and then sent to the foul play review officer to decide whether a 10-minute sin-binning is sufficient or a 20-minute red card is warranted.
That game should have had 10 cards
Burger argued that De Jager’s red card shouldn’t have been a permanent one and that matches are being ruined with so many cards being issued in a single match.
“You have stats on the players and teams now, you know the Springboks are the team who tackle low the most percentage-wise and also that they have the most dominant tackles,” he said.
“Once you see the trend and the change in behaviour, to my point, where do we go? The issue for me is that the player is always guilty. Why is it always illegal? Like Lood has a change in behaviour with his perfect tackle technique. There’s a change in direction and height from (Thomas) Ramos, and he gets a head contact. He doesn’t quite wrap his left arm; for me, the red card entry level is completely wrong.
“It should be nothing. Okay, the benefit of the doubt goes to the ball carrier or whatever, and he gets a yellow card, and we can live with that.
“We can’t live with the permanent reds like that, or like what happened over the weekend. I mean, the South Africa-Ireland game should have had 10 cards.”
Fellow former Springbok Jean de Villiers agreed: “The permanent red should be a kick in the face, an out-and-out punch – dirty play. It’s not being implemented correctly, in my opinion.”
Burger was left perplexed by one of Carley’s decisions, though, as the referee penalised Manie Libbok for his reaction to South Africa winning a penalty when Ireland were on the attack in Boks’ half.
Libbok celebrated in the face of Ireland’s Jack Crowley, which sparked a scuffle and led to the referee reversing the penalty.
“They get penalised for celebrating where, just before that, Ireland were holding down the toilet door, they were fighting and showed immense grit with 12 and 13 men holding out the Boks who were camped in their 22 for the bulk of that second half. They win a turnover there, and it gets celebrated by Bundee Aki, James Lowe and Ryan Baird, which I agree with, but the fact that South Africa gets penalised the other way is bizarre.”
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