Bone-headed Paul Willemse has only himself to blame for red card against Ireland

Paul Willemse cannot say he was not warned. As soon as the behemoth French lock clocked Ireland’s No 8, Caelan Doris, in the neck, there were cries of frustration around the Stade Velodrome, even before referee Karl Dickson had stopped play to review. Willemse had only been back on the field for six minutes after his yellow card for the same offence in the 16th minute, when his clumsy clear-out caught Andrew Porter in the head, forcing the Irish loosehead off for a head injury assessment.

The collision with Porter was sent to the bunker by Dickson and it remained as a yellow card after review. It was a tight call. Willemse could count himself as a lucky boy. It was probably a fair and reasonable decision by the bunker official, with Porter adjudged to have been falling, but concurrently it was one of those incidents where, had a red card been announced, there would not have been much reason for surprise or complaint.

Willemse had had his warning. The sense around the Velodrome upon the lock’s return was one of relief but also of caution. You got away with one, Paul, now get lower and do not let it happen again. He lasted six minutes. Doris was clobbered this time and Willemse received his marching orders, given the offence met the yellow-card threshold. Willemse would not be returning – no matter what – although it was later upgraded to red on review anyway. It was as boneheaded a piece of defensive play as you will see in this year’s Six Nations. If the first card was marginal, Willemse deserved to see red on the second occasion owing to plain stupidity.

The lock did not even need to get involved in the Doris challenge; the Ireland No 8 had already been stopped in his tracks by two French defenders, inside his own 22 at that. It is telling that Fabien Galthié, France’s head coach, had zero complaints after the match but did admit that Willemse’s faults were “technical”, which is putting it kindly.

In the Galthié era, which began in 2020, the Montpellier second row established himself as a crucial cog in France’s vibrant and vicious pack. Willemse was red-carded in the 2021 Six Nations for making contact with the eyes of Wales prop Wyn Jones and injury saw him lose his place last year, but with both Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou ruled out – the Toulouse pair had been expected to start in Marseille on Friday night – Willemse was fast-tracked back into the side as part of a new-look second-row pairing with Paul Gabrillagues of Stade Français. Cameron Woki and the 19-year-old, uncapped nephew of Manu Tuilagi, Posolo, were the options on the bench, but France decided to pursue until half-time without delving into the reinforcements – much to the detriment of Les Bleus’ line-out. Eventually, both Woki and Tuilagi emerged but by then the game had gone.

France had looked second best before Willemse’s mindless double-whammy but his departure left them underpowered and under-resourced. There is a school of thought that games of this magnitude should not be tainted by cards, but on this occasion it was entirely warranted. Lightning struck twice for the lock. He has lessons to learn.

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