The game would do well to pay attention. He appeared on TNT's highlights programme for round one of the Champions Cup this month and offered his thoughts on the cards that he and his colleagues have been obliged to bandy about for so many years now.
When asked how often he had shown red cards to players who had clearly not meant to offend in the way they had - to whom he was showing the card because he had to - he stopped short of replying "every time", but his diplomatic response was clear. "I don't think any player goes out intentionally to hurt another player," he said. "I think players get things wrong."
Another way of putting that is the game is too fast and physical for any player to guarantee they will always get things right. So all we do under the protocols is guarantee we will be sending players off. "The game needs to have that discussion," Barnes said. "There were 112 cards in the Champions Cup last season. We do need to ask ourselves the question: do we constantly want to see teams reduced to 14 or 13 men?"
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