Overview
- The incident occurred just before halftime at Stade de France when Lood de Jager made direct shoulder-to-head contact with Thomas Ramos.
- Referee Angus Gardner, assisted by TMO Ian Tempest and the touch judges, moved from an initial play-on to a video review before issuing the sanction.
- Officials judged the action to be always illegal with a tucked arm, intentional and reckless, and therefore at the permanent red card threshold.
- Because the act was deemed intentional, mitigation did not apply and the 20‑minute red card option was unavailable, leaving South Africa with 14 players for the remainder.
- South Africa went on to beat France 32-17, with the decision explained publicly against the four-step head‑contact guidelines in Law 9.