Hurricanes vs Rebels Rnd 14 Super Rugby 2012

[ACR]

nasty looking stuff....is it as the kiwi commentators say "perfectly legal"? If so, looks like you can intentionally head but an opponent during a tackle to try and knock them out.

Don't be a drama queen. An intentional headbutt? Mark Gerard threw a poor dummy pass and stepped right into the tackle. Matu'u starts his lunge right before Gerard steps off his right, the tackle allegedly breaking his sternum (not knocking him out). As the commentator mentions, "the late change of direction put them both in trouble", just an unfortunate injury.

The second tackle was just Lachlan Mitchell running straight into Matu'u, which was odd considering how deep the Rebels back line played all game. He got the ball 10 metres away and wasn't blindsided, he even had time to instinctively hunch over before the tackle; which means you're either doing a maori side step or more likely you've poorly prepared to get hit. Considering the 15kg difference it was the latter, and Mitchell's fault.

 

[Da Munch]

In that example, at least the ref pulled things up, in the Gerrard example the ref ran past a knocked out player.

 

[maxdacat]

An intentional headbutt?

True, that is probably too strong a term, I just feel uneasy seeing players suffer these sort of injuries, particularly twice in the same match.

 

[Scarfman]

Tackling technique aside, I thought Jonathan White was awful. A good ref for a Kiwi derby when it's anything goes, but not helping the Rebs much.

 

[Happy]

Vaea's was a swinging arm to the jaw. In no way the same thing.

That's what I meant i didn't understand. To me it looked like he moved both arms forward at the same time, and wasn't directed at Digby's head.

Anyway, the judiciary obviously didn't see it that way, he got suspended and that's fair enough.

I think these tackles were similar in that the defending player went to make a hard (legitimate) tackle that went wrong, and weren't high or at the attacker's head.