Derpus
Nathan Sharpe (72)
This is why simulation exists in Football. Back in the rough old days there would regularly be players whose careers ended early because they would get hacked to bits (hell, even Brazilian Ronaldo was ruined to an extent and that wasn't even that long ago). So they cracked down on the foul play endangering players and players started simulating injury to ensure the foul was noticed. This is also why they don't really push to remove it - because the alternative is worse.How Jesse Kriel stayed on the field is unbelievable. If Dempsey had fallen to the ground and held his head a la Marx or Vermeulen, would the TMO/ref been forced to look more closely at it?
I don’t like how rugby is going with this. I’m OK with card for head contact but it has to be consistent. We saw Grant Williams knocked out vs Argentina a few weeks back with no on-field penalty.
The inconsistency is a bit of a joke unfortunately.
Seems inevitable that diving will become a bit more prevalent. Its probably unpalatable to a rugby audience but why shouldn't a player go down to ensure foul play is noticed and duly punished? Particularly if the chance it won't otherwise be punished is considerable.
Hell, it might even be the case that if players stayed down after head contact as a rule there would be greater consistency.
Last edited: