To be really pedantic, the video clearly shows that referees didn't use red cards at that point in time. They weren't introduced for what, I dunno, another decade? But what the hell was the ref thinking? The so-called sending off offence was barely a slap. It didn't even make contact. But all three officials were standing five yards away looking directly at Shelford when he flattened Richards! Crazy decision.
They were thinking - as they did, back then - that the guy starting it got what he deserved, and, as the instigator, deserved the boot.
Maybe, but do you really think the slap was a sending off offence? You see things worse than that in the modern game that don't even get a sin binning. The Shelford punch, though, was way out of proportion and also cowardly (gee, it's real brave to punch someone when they're looking in the opposite direction). But still, in those days what happened on the field stayed on the field. My cousin was a rugby player (I almost said "a professional", but of course he wasn't) for Neath in those days and he'd get into worse fights than that. You'd see him in the bar after the games laughing his head off with the same person he'd been punching the shit out of two hours earlier. Rugby players are a strange breed!
