Cornish Pirates boss Paver backs new red card rule

Joe Elderkin is facing a ban after his red card

Cornish Pirates joint-head coach Alan Paver has backed the concept of 20-minute red cards.

The Pirates lost centre Joe Elderkin to a 20-minute red just before half-time in his side's 22-21 loss to Hartpury in their Champ opener on Saturday.

Elderkin was dismissed after a head-to-head collision with an opponent - but the new rules meant Pirates could replace him after a 20-minute spell.

"They fully understand a lot of these head collisions are not intentional and to have a player gone possibly for 80 minutes, 60 minutes, 40 minutes is typically the end of your game," Paver told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"It takes a pretty resilient side to survive a long period of time with one player off.

"I think the game needed it because to lose a player for a long period of time through an accident can sometimes be very difficult to recover from."

Elderkin's high tackle on Hartpury centre Ollie Allsopp was the first red card for a Pirates player in three years.

But Paver says the challenge was accidental and the sanction was the right decision.

"Looking at it, there was no malice in it at all - it was just two heads colliding, both in compromised positions," Paver added.

"But the referee, with the new laws around head contacts, had no real option to go with what he saw in the moment.

"There wasn't any intention for that to happen, there was no real malice within that contact, it's just the way it is if you get two heads colliding now, that it is going to be dealt with quite severely."