:D

Had we managed to loose he’d have thought 8 weeks was a bargain price for the 15 v 14 win. He’d be the toast of Wales for those 8 weeks.

EDIT (too old): @loum my point is the rwc is now the clear pinnacle of international rugby, the 6N after is always a rebuilding year and its too early for Lions selection to be of interest. Personally I have for a number of years seen the Investec games against RSA or NZ as probably more important. The 6N is an excellent torunament and the losses to Wales and Ireland when we had a shot at grand slams where telling and big important games lost when the pressure was on. Its just a psersonal view but I’ve not paid to watch England v Italy more than twice and one if those was an away game as I’d never done a Rome international.

It gives me a warm feeling when I remember Dooley is a citing officer now.

Wasn’t mendez still a teenager at the time of the incident?

I saw Neil Back get a good smack from an AB. Asked about it after the game Back said, “I might have been holding on” :wink:

Apparently Wade Dooley’s line to the ref as he came round after being twatted by a rather young and enthusiastic newcomer (who happened to be called Martin Johnson”

“Don’t-send-him-orfff….”

What verbal? :wink:

I liked the excuse from John Beattie after a Calcutta Cup match when he’d famously decked Wade Dooley near the start of the match:

“I thought it was Maurice Colclough”.

Apparently the plan had been to rile Colclough as he’d supposedly been scared of Beattie on the Lions Tour of NZ. However the plan backfired as everyone knew that you weren’t supposed to upset “The Swamp Thing” at all costs.

Yes. However, if you take a few seconds and read further you’ll see why the further punishments are not bollocks. It always surprises me when incidents like this are discussed, how few people actually take the time to read through the laws properly or find out why there is citing and how it works.

OK I read futher and got to the bit about yellow cards and stuff – fair enough.

My point is – it’s getting a bit like wendy-ball with all this “hands to the face” nonsense. The Ashton banning was plain ludicrous.

The best comment I heard was from Aussie League legend, Andrew Johns, when commentating on an NRL game:

“They ruined it all when they changed the laws so that a bloke could no longer punch another bloke.”

He was referring to the “afters” at the play-the-ball when a gobby little scrum half would push and shove an 18st prop and get no retaliation. THe same applies in Union so **** like Owen Farrell or Mike Brown can run up and shove some huge forward who can no longer lamp them in return.

Has he been working with Joe Marler? :lol:

Being scared of Beattie senior is an entirely acceptable mindset. I let the air out of his son a wee bit late about 12 years ago when he was an up and commer playing for Glasgow Accies and I was a grizzled old 6 playing for Dundee High in a meaningless cup game. Senior was less than pleased and conveyed this sentiment from pitchside. I made a point of standing in a group of players in the bar until they left, I SWEAR he was glaring at me.

@duckman if you can call someone an English B*****d on the field (as people here have said you can) then I would imagine calling someone a Jew isn’t an issue either ? People can call me a Catholic or an Englishman all day long, won’t bother me one jot. If you get called a B or a C so what ?

The rule for “hands to the face” in football is quite different both in intention and interpretation to what I assume is “the eye area” [to which you’re referring] in rugby. To be fair to football, there’s never been a problem with eye gouging. I’m happy to see fairly heavy punishments for offences for it.[/quote]

There is simply no excuse for hands in the eye area. As for full on eye gouging then the ban should be as horrific as the action. Until you’ve had someone’s finger nail scrape down the back of your eye socket, or the thumb of the opposition tight head, (yes Ashley Bowkett, I’m looking at you) buried in your skull, then the line of “it’s part of the game” belongs in the “good old days” where punching and fighting was acceptable.

Player welfare should take the priority over “a bit of niggle”. I still can’t focus my right eye properly.

Whilst there’s no excuse for eye gouging there are plenty of excuses for accidentally sticking your finger (or anything else) in a bloke’s eye.

I went to tackle a guy from behind in a school game with the intent of wrapping him around the shoulders to prevent him offloading the ball. At the same time he slipped trying to sidestep another tackler so I ended up grabbing him round the head and he then tried twisting out of it so my fingers raked across his face, hurting his eye. I felt really bad and apologised. Luckily my old boy was on the sidelines and he’s an eye surgeon so he checked the kid out and he was fine.

It’s a fine line perhaps but it’s a physical game and “enforcers” should still have their place.

But Lee himself said:

Marler let off for being a punchy cheat.

Unimpressed.

Hoping for a ban for being a racist cheat.

Must have been some chuffing good biscuits.

Nothing for being racist. Nothing for a clear, premeditated punch.

Really poor decisions, setting a really bad example.

It was a forearm smash not a punch.

So a forearm smash to the face of an opponent is just dandy, then?

That’s the lesser problem though. Rugby has just said racism is OK I it’s in the heart of the moment apparently. Very disappointed.