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Mon 20 Nov 2017 | 04:33
Michael Hooper makes unwanted history with record breaking yellow card

15
Comments

As Australia fell to a 30-6 loss to England on Saturday, one man in particular may find the load harder to bear. When Michael Hooper received a yellow card on the half-hour mark he officially claimed the record for most yellow cards received in international rugby.

Australia were able to cope well enough at the time of their captain's departure, only conceding three points from the boot of Owen Farrell. However, that will be little consolation to Hooper and his team.

Hooper received his yellow after referee Ben O'Keeffe had seen a number of infractions inside the Australian 22.

He now finds himself with 8 yellow cards, topping a list of players that includes Italian Marco Bortolami (7), Canadian Jamie Cudmore (7) and South African Bryan Habana (7).

Here's the moment Hooper made history:

Posted By: andrewnolan

15 Comments

  • drg
    3:29 PM 23/11/2017

    You get a like for using the words "best ratio" haha!

  • mise
    12:00 AM 22/11/2017

    exactly - best ratio Cudmore!

    Hooper starts a lot of the matches too, tbf (another good ratio above in the stats)

  • breakaway
    9:24 PM 21/11/2017

    Looking at this again under better conditions. I don't think the going to ground and roll away were the problem. Under any interpretation that would not be a "tight" call, it would be ludicrous. But I do think your other suggestion is right. Hooper was standing offside in front of the line under the posts, and as soon as he makes contact the ref twice says "offside seven gold", well before Hooper even goes to ground. When the ref talks to Hooper he says: "We've had tackling the lifter, collapsing the maul, two offsides. The last two offsides were against you." So it's an accumulative thing.

  • hoot
    8:08 PM 21/11/2017

    Sorry, replied to wrong post. See above. :-)

  • hoot
    8:08 PM 21/11/2017

    He looks like he's been wearing an Opti-Grab.

  • im1
    3:38 PM 21/11/2017

    You're missing the way the change in the way the tackle has been reffed this year. The tackler has to basically be zero nusiance.

    Hooper makes the tackle (and he could have been offside prior to that anyway) and the rolls around the side putting himself at the back of the ruck. He then moves backwards towards the England side. He doesn't really impede Youngs but its very close. I agree its tight, but its consistent with current reffing

  • drg
    12:49 PM 21/11/2017

    Well, I guess relatively speaking, Cudmore still holds the record for the worst haha!

  • rugbydump
    11:47 AM 21/11/2017

    We've added a list of the top ten there now

  • breakaway
    6:44 AM 21/11/2017

    I agree tphillipsstl. Hooper makes a driving tackle off the line, goes to ground, immediately rolls away and gets back onside without interfering with anything. I see no infringement at all. He then stands back on the line and starts to creep around the post. There's a penalty there if the ref chooses, but this clip doesn't show the ref giving it. If Hooper did enough to get a yellow, it's certainly not on this video clip.

  • finedisregard
    4:37 AM 21/11/2017

    He's not a dirty player either. Sad indictment of the game.

    On a different note:have you ever seen one with eyes set so close together?

  • tphillipsstl
    8:38 PM 20/11/2017

    i did not watch the match. But in this video, I see him making a tackle from an onside position, rolling away immediately, and then being a bit slow to get back onside, but does not interfere with the play at all while doing so. What am I missing?

  • drg
    7:40 PM 20/11/2017

    I guess if he was born in a neighbouring country he'd have got to play in the invisible black cloak, thus avoiding cards...that's the only reason he's not 2nd to another flanker...

    *Giggle*

  • alasdairduncan3
    5:48 PM 20/11/2017

    This video doesn't show much. There were 2 nails collapsed, 2 pens at the breakdown, and a wonderful display of trying to ignore his way out of the card.

    Still a fantastic player but he deserved this yellow.

  • im1
    5:13 PM 20/11/2017

    There are important missing stats here.....

    Hooper - 77 Games - 8 Yellows
    Cudmore - 43 Games - 7 Yellows
    Habana - 124 Games - 7 Yellows
    Bortolomi - 111 Games - 7 Yellows

    Hooper also commits 2 pens here. The first for not rolling away, which the ref pings him for and what we assume he got the yellow for. The second is that he is miles offside immediately afterwards. So even if it could be argued that it was a little harsh to yellow him for not rolling away on the basis there were cumulative pens, its competely fair to yellow him for the second pen.

  • flanker2712
    4:55 PM 20/11/2017

    How is it that Habana and Cudmore can have the same number of yellow cards???

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