Justin Marshall: Reckless tackles and poor discipline could have serious consequences

Red cards in the Chiefs match for Hika Elliot, above, and Bismarck du Plessis were just stupid rush-of-blood-to-the-head stuff, writes Justin Marshall. Photo / Getty Images

The continued ill discipline in Super Rugby could lead to a serious, even tragic, injury if players aren't more careful.

Players are being far too reckless with tip tackles and taking opponents out in the air.

We saw an extreme case of that in the Sharks v Chiefs match when Frans Steyn tipped Aaron Cruden on his head - a red card offence in a match blighted by two others.

The other was Kieron Fonotia's sin binning for taking out an air-borne Willie le Roux in the Crusaders v Cheetahs match.

That was clumsy rather than reckless, but my message is the same because the consequences could have been tragic.

For whatever reason, players aren't getting their discipline right. They know the laws and boundaries but are continually getting it wrong.

Both incidents could have resulted in potentially very serious spinal or neck injuries. Only luck ensured that didn't happen. Players must grow up and learn to look after their opponents.

The other red cards in the Chiefs match - for Hika Elliot and Bismarck du Plessis - were just stupid rush-of-blood-to-the-head stuff.

If I was a coach or an official I would be scratching my head as to why the players aren't showing better discipline. Red cards can completely change the game and be very costly. Are our players being educated well enough or are they just not thinking? Either way, they have to clean it up.

The game I want to concentrate on was the one in Dunedin between the Highlanders and Hurricanes. For me it was a bit of a letdown. Neither side showed consistent quality, their skills often letting them down. I spoke to Hurricanes assistant coach John Plumtree the next day and he was equally as perplexed as to why the first half was so poor. He thought maybe the game was a bit over-hyped and the players were too jittery. I thought the Hurricanes were better in the big moments - when they had their breakout opportunities they tended to get points.

When they were required to really muscle up on defence they did it. They showed lots more patience on attack and defence than we usually see from them.

The Highlanders can be giant killers - they beat the Chiefs and Waratahs on the bounce - yet they are becoming a little inconsistent and are allowing teams to get away to big leads. People will make a lot of the finish in Dunedin - was it a forward pass? - but they were playing catch-up rugby again for the final 25 minutes. They are also relying too much on the individual brilliance of Malakai Fekitoa, Ben Smith and Patrick Osborne; a worry for them and their coaches.

Both teams have big weeks coming up; the Hurricanes have the Rebels at home, which is a potential banana skin match, and the Highlanders have a tough one against the Stormers.

It's a must-win for them given their stretch of away games coming up.