No sanction handed down by SANZAAR for tackle that left Reds player with a fractured neck

Queensland Reds second-row Connor Vest was involved in a scary incident over the past weekend as his team went down 35 – 30 against the Highlanders.

Carrying the ball into contact in the 28th minute, making the tackle, Highlander’s duo hooker Andrew Makalio and loose forward Shannon Frizell hit the secondrow high and low.

Whilst Makalio chopped the big secondrow low, Frizell’s shoulder made contact with the head of Vest.

Scary stuff.

Reds secondrow Connor Vest, fortunately, walks off the pitch himself despite a broken neck.

No sanction from SANZAAR is interesting, given it was a direct shoulder-to-head shot.#superrugby #rugby #queenslandreds #connorvest pic.twitter.com/zVyPhH0gbP

— Philip Bendon (@PBendon) May 31, 2023

The incident led to outrage in the Reds camp, with number eight Harry Wilson accusing Kiwi referee Brendon Pickerill of rushing Vest of the neck.

Speaking about the incident, Wilson said: “Rugby has been really big on player welfare the past few years. For us, there wasn’t much player welfare there with a no-arms tackle on his legs and a shoulder, with no arms, to the head,

“That’s not ideal. Vesty broke his neck. For me, that’s pretty ridiculous. As a playing group, we were very frustrated with the referee trying to rush him off the field.

“We thought it was pretty disrespectful to a player who was found to have a broken neck. He was being told to get off the field as if he was wasting time.

“As a playing group, we weren’t too happy. He was lying down for quite a while, and they (the medical staff) had him in all the positions.

“There seemed to be a lot of external pressures to get him off the field, and he walked off. You don’t know what extra damage that can do.”

In the same game, Reds utility back James O’Connor copped a hard hit from Highlanders flyhalf Freddie Burns.

That incident was reminiscent of the one in which Glasgow Warriors’ flyhalf Tom Jordan was shown a red card for his tackle on Munster scrumhalf Conor Murray in the URC quarterfinals.

I see where you’re coming from Stephen, but given the cards we have seen over the past year, it appears to be away from the norm.

Also, this one in the same game (similar to the Tom Jordan shot on Conor Murray in the URC QF) didn’t get a look in. pic.twitter.com/vejjUah6Mj

— Philip Bendon (@PBendon) May 31, 2023