Itoje’s aerial collision with Earls should have been at least a yellow. – Huge Rugby News

We put the question out to our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers – “Should this have been more than a penalty after Maro Itoje and Keith Earls collided in the air?”

To say we got a mixed response would be an understatement.

Here’s the incident in question.

Physical mismatch, that’s all.

— Shôn Douglas (@shondo) February 3, 2025

If Curry hadnt have been binned at that time I wouldnt mind betting Itoje would’ve had a spell in there.He was a good few metres beyond the ball when he took Earls out so he cant use having his eye on the ball as an excuse for the collision.

— JDoc (@JohnDoc_9) February 3, 2025

Thought it was a harsh pen to be honest. Both competing. Mark was just penalised because he’s got about 8″ and 3 stone on him

— Nicky (@Nickstaar) February 3, 2025

*I* was closer to the ball than #Itoje ?

— I ❤ North Coast (@ILoveNorthCoast) February 3, 2025

A broad summary would indicate that English fans thought it was legit, Irish fans thought it was filthy. We take a look at the incident as a neutral.

Firstly, England were the better the team and deserved winners but this incident along with the Manu Tuilagi incident have been major talking points since the weekend.

We’ve taken the incident and broke it into 6 pictures and do the classic, ‘say what you see’

via GIPHY

1. Wide shot – Earls eyes are already on the ball, Itoje looking straight ahead towards Earls.
2. Itoje gets closer and eyes remain on Earls whose eyes still remain fixed on the ball.
3. Itoje gets off the floor first, looking towards the sky for the first time, Earls prepare to take to the air, eyes still on the ball.
4. Moment of impact, Itoje leads with the knee which is perfectly normal but eyes looking at Earls. Earls still has eyes on the ball. The ball is still not even in the picture at the time of impact.
5. Itoje being the bigger & heavier man and in the air first naturally dominates the physics of the collision. The ball finally enters the picture a few metres behind the collision, Earls is already perpendicular with the floor
6. Earls and the ball hit the floor at the same time. No one near the ball.

Looking at the clip, broken down there can be no denying regardless if you are an English or Irish fan, Itoje is not in a realistic position to take the ball at any point. When the ball enters the picture, Itoje has already clattered Earls around 3m beyond the flight of the ball. Whether you believe this is deliberate and Itoje’s only intention was to collide with Earls or he simply got his timing totally wrong, the outcome should have been more than a penalty.

Below is the applicable law.

Law 10.4 – ‘Challenging players in the air’

There are 4 possible outcomes. We look at each one and apply it to the play in question.

Play on – Fair challenge with both players in a realistic position to catch the ball. Even if the player(s) land(s) dangerously, play on. – Itoje not in a realistic position to catch the ball.

Penalty only – Fair challenge with wrong timing – No pulling down. – Not a fair challenge as Itoje has jumped around 3m beyond the flight of the ball.

Yellow card – Not a fair challenge, there is no contest and the player is pulled down landing on his back or side. – Earls is not pulled down, the momentum and weight of Itoje cause Earls to lose the collision and land on back.

Red card – It’s not a fair challenge with no contest, whilst being a reckless or deliberate foul play action and the player lands in a dangerous position. The challenge is not a contest as Itoje is way beyond the flight of the ball, it could be argued it’s reckless and could also be argued deliberate foul play.

Having looked at the law and the available options to the referee, ‘Play on’ and ‘Penalty only’ can not be considered as valid options in this scenario as there is no ‘fair challenge’ for the ball. Itoje was never in a postion to challenge for the ball as he was several metres in beyond it.

With ‘Play on’ and ‘Penalty only’ now not available options the remaining options are ‘Yellow’ or ‘Red’. This then comes down to whether you feel the collision was reckless and your interpretation of Itoje’s intentions. I personally feel that Itoje is far too good a rugby player to get his timing and positioning that wrong. Reckless is defined in the dictionary as ‘ utterly unconcerned about the consequences of some action; without caution; careless’. For me, Itoje’s actions fit that description. My interpretation of whether his actions were deliberate foul play. Again, I believe that he’s far too good a player to get it that wrong and his intention was purely to collide with Earls. According to the Laws and based on my interpration of reckless and deliberate foul play this would be a red card decision.

As an English fan I feel this would have been a harsh decision and even as an Irish fan, I would feel this would be a little harsh but for the ref to give a penalty and not even refer it to the TMO I feel was a mistake. Perhaps some of the Twitter responses were right and the decision to Sin Bin Tom Curry (harshly in my opinion) came into the equation on this decision.

If you were the man in the middle on Saturday, how would you have dealt with the incident. Vote below:

Ps – Before anyone says it… we know Connor Murray blocked Elliot Daly