• Wasps 41-35 Leicester
• Spencer sent off for high tackle
In terms of breathless, end-to-end entertainment this frenzied blur of a midlands derby was unquestionably the club game of the season so far. For Leicester, however, the bitter comfortably outweighed the sweet in the wake of the 40th-minute red card shown to their lock Will Spencer which swayed an eight-try thriller in Wasps’ favour and reignited the vexed debate over rugby’s illegal tackle directives.
By the letter of the rule book the decision to send off the towering Spencer for making contact with the head of the Wasps hooker Tommy Taylor was justified given the much-publicised crusade against high tackles in the modern game. At the same time, it grows harder by the day for players, coaches and match officials to negotiate the tightrope between a physical contact sport and the sort of fractional tackle misjudgments that look even worse in slow motion.
Written by Robert Kitson at the Ricoh Arena
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/16/wasps-leicester-premiership-match-report under the title “Leicester stunned by controversial Will Spencer dismissal in defeat to Wasps”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
