brokendown
Bill McLean (32)
not implying he wasn't injured,I was there & saw it,just suprised he is playing if he was concussed
I find it hard to believe that Du Plessis would try and choke a player.
That is right reserved for his brothers in the Proteas.
Most of the articles I read about the Sanzar ruling on Sideys suspension said he did not contest the charge of a dangerous tackle so he is taking it on the chin and accepting his actions. However if it was league he would have been put on report and not sent off but would still have probably got the 3 weeks which is a better system rather than decisions made in the heat of the moment by referees changing the course of the game.
thought you had to have a three week spell if concussed?
It went wrong because of Sidey's dumb decision to lift the leg. That was the cause, that is why it deserved the suspension.
JdP is a doctor, right? If so, I'd be surprised if he would actually break a bloke's neck.
Bleh, I use the term "spear tackle" all the time, and it's a good term, but the fact is it doesn't exist as rugby. I like to classify a spear tackle as when the tackled player goes past the horizontal as per the league definition, and that generally happens in one of two cases: 1) a player is lifted in a tackle from below the waste, or 2) a player is lifted by putting one hand between their legs. As soon as a tackler is in either position, they are in trouble, and if a second man joins (like Fairbanks did) then the tackle has a very high chance of turning nasty.
In summary, a player doesn't have to land on their head at all for it to be a spear tackle in my book, they just have to be lifted and go beyond the horizontal. Actually, in union, strictly speaking they only need to be lifted and not let down carefully.
Sidey's tackle was dangerous and he was always going to get rubbed for it, regardless if it was in league or union. It is valid to argue about whether it was a red card or yellow card offence I think, but not valid to say it wasn't dangerous and not deserving of a suspension.
I haven't seen the Pocock instance but I've read enough to believe it was ugly.
The only thing with the 'choke hold' is that I reckon I see it happen at least once or twice a game especially in rolling maul situations. Guys who are taken around the neck or head. The players don't seem to have had too much issue with it to date but I agree that it looks ugly and dangerous and maybe Pocock's injury might bring some action.
See the highlanders player got penalized for a choke in the maul when him and Becker got carded.
Go the force!!!!
I thought of this thread immediately actually.
If there hadn't been a bit of biff afterwards, I don't think it would have been called.
That's pretty ordinary and the follow up comment would seem to make it clear it was intentional. But yet:
An important point. The fact that Jannie is a doctor should make it obvious that he would never intentionally hurt someone; just as a lawyer would never do anything unethical; an alderman would never take bribes; and a policeman would never tell lies in court. The fabric of our society would soon collapse if we couldn't rely on people upholding the high standards of their professions.
Do you not think it would be out of the ordinary for a doctor to deliberately commit an act that could seriously maim another player? It will be interesting to see if this is a one off or a regular occurrence from JdP. If it were a regular thing, he should get rubbed out on the basis of not only dirty play, but also knowing enough about the health effects to know better.