Charlie Ewels says his high hit on James Ryan was a "split-second thing that went wrong" and has added his voice to calls for a more nuanced punishment for accidental collisions.
Leinster and Ireland lock Ryan remains out of action following the head-on-head collision that resulted in a red card for the England forward at the start of their Six Nations meeting three weeks ago.
Bath captain Ewels was banned for three games and also took part in a World Rugby coaching intervention programme aimed at improving tackle technique.
"In the moment it was: there's a knock, he went down, we played on a bit, he stayed down, I didn’t know why, and then everything stopped," Ewels, giving his version of the tackle, said in The Times.
"None of their lads or our lads said anything. It was when the replay went up: 'Oh no, my head has hit his head.’
"A lot of it was to do with my entry height. He passes the ball, I’m thinking I’m tackling him, then I’m thinking I’m trying to tackle Johnny Sexton. I was coming up again, and got caught in that horrible halfway house.
After just 82 seconds, England are down to 14 men. Charlie Ewels receives a red card for this challenge on James Ryan.
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) March 12, 2022
📺 Watch live: https://t.co/CStwnXf2cB
📱 Live updates: https://t.co/d6o7sgXOGp
📻 Live radio commentary: https://t.co/wUq1XxhF4x #ENGIRE #RTERugby #SixNations pic.twitter.com/8CXKvWjy1a
"I saw the ref [Mathieu Raynal] walking back with Courtney Lawes - he had his cards out and I thought, ‘Oh no, yellow.’ Then I saw the red.
"That makes it sounds like I’m appealing the decision - I’m not, it’s a red card. It was a very quiet walk back. I do a lot of breath work, so I thought, ‘Right. Breathe.’ I walked past [Ireland wing] James Lowe. He said to me, ‘Unlucky, mate.’ I appreciated that."
"It was a split-second thing that went wrong.
"If I’d have punched or trodden on someone, lost my head, I’d have sat there thinking, ‘Why did I do that?’ and would’ve collected my thoughts on my own.
"I practise tackling but what I don’t practise a lot is height change and making decisions in the situation I was in.
"When you’re 180 beats per minute [heart-rate], knackered — obviously I wasn’t in my game — and in the speed of it, you drift back to your trained habits."
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland, Leinster assistant Robin McBryde and former Ireland head coach Eddie O’Sullivan all spoke to RTÉ Sport last week about exploring a 20-minute red card or a "black card" sanction for accidental collisions, such as the system being trialled in Super Rugby
"Most rugby players would say there’s a massive difference between a mistiming or poor technique with no malice," added Ewels.
"Obvious stuff like punching or gouging, we’re absolutely trying to outlaw from the game.
"There are your ‘highly reckless’ ones — where your intent wasn’t to hurt them, but if you tuck your arm into a clean-out, or a tackle, or your arm is swinging, which we know we can’t do, maybe those deserve the full sanction.
"But people do feel there is a mid-ground, where it is not a yellow, or a red, so what is the punishment? Maybe the 20-minute one with someone else coming on is fair. With the rules as they are, the referee refereed the laws right. I had to go."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch Benetton v Connacht (Saturday 12pm), France v Ireland (Saturday 2.15pm) and Munster v Leinster (Saturday 7pm) live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player (also live on RTÉ Radio 1).
