Quote BD="BD"Oh come on, it was quite clear from the trajectory of the way he was moving/the way the ball was going that he was clearly passing. It was late enough to constitute a red - he only had eyes for the man, not the ball.'"
Half backs often pass. This doesn't mean they can't be tackled. In every game of rugby league, lots of players are tackled fractionally after they've passed the ball. In fact, good teams try to make that happen, because if you've committed the tackler and passed the ball, you've created a gap for a support player. The quid pro quo is that if it's timed right, the passer is going to get hit. Tonight's tackle was no more or less late than hundreds of tackles every weekend, and that wasn't the cause of the red.
The red was for direct contact with the head. Again, the fact that it was a shoulder in this case is not particularly relevant - it was clearly not a shoulder charge, and players are entitled to tackle with shoulders as long as they try to get their arms around the tackled player as well. Walmsley could have hit him with his arms, hands or legs, and it would have been the same decision.
The red was because the first point of contact was with the head, causing concussion. Doesn't matter that it was with shoulder, doesn't matter about timing. It was a direct hit to the head. So it was red. Fair call.
Some of the comments on this thread are barking. Walmsley is the classic gentle giant - too gentle for my liking in a Saints pack lacking aggression - you could see he was bending his back, but he was bending his 6'5" back to try to tackle a 5'1" dwarf, so he still hit Robinson's head, the clumsy great oaf. You can also see he hasn't an ounce of malevolence in him because immediately after the tackle, he realises he's just smashed Robinson in the head, and actually shows concern for him (some Huddersfield players seemed to think he was roughing the little guy up on the floor, but watch the video again with both eyes open and it's pretty plain what's going on).
So sending off fair call, but there won't be much in the way of afters from this.