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Jonny Hill's baiting of Darcy Swain: 'That's attacking the head of a player'

Jonny Hill pushed Darcy Swain in the face minutes before pulling his hair.

Jonny Hill evading sanction for pushing opposition lock Darcy Swain in the face, minutes before the latter saw red in Australia’s tight series opening win against England in Perth, is the talk of social media.

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The England second row was seen pushing Swain square in the face, right under the nose of the referee, but received no penalty for his action.

The afters between the two continued deep into the first half and culminated in Hill pulling Swain’s hair, for which he received a yellow card, and the Australian retaliating by headbutting his aggressor which duly earnt him a red.

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Post-match press conference with England head coach Eddie Jones and captain Courtney Lawes following their 30-28 loss to Australia.

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Post-match press conference with England head coach Eddie Jones and captain Courtney Lawes following their 30-28 loss to Australia.

“That’s attacking the head of another player with both hands,” said former Wallabies lock Justin Harrison on Stan Sport in Australia. “I’d be very surprised if the independent citing commissioner didn’t have a look at this game and want to have a closer look at that one.

The fallout of the incident has set social media alight and led Pat McCarry, the rugby editor of SportsJOE, to muse on Twitter: “Jonny Hill should be on a red and a yellow by now…”

PA journalist Andrew Baldock wrote that there is a strong precedent to cite the English lock: “Wouldn’t be surprised if Jonny Hill is cited. Agustin Creevy and Chris Ashton both banned for hair-pulling. Creevy on Eben Etzebeth, which can’t have been the brightest move.”

Jared Wright took a less severe approach to the incident, suggesting that Swain should have kept a lid on things.

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“Darcy Swain will learn from this test. Jonny Hill targeted him and got him to react. Got to keep your cool.”

Rugby writer Will Owen took a more comical approach to proceedings, posting: “Never seen anyone enjoy getting yellow carded as much as Jonny Hill there. Fair play.”

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Former England second row Ben Kay and Australia great Matt Giteau had differing interpretations of the hairpulling and headbutting during the game, but afterwards Giteau conceded that the red was justified.

Popular account Rugby Inside Line chimed in by predicting that Hill will be subsequently sanctioned for his actions which warranted a red.

“There is a case for Jonny Hill to be red carded though. Chris Ashton handed a four week ban for pulling Alesana Tuilagi’s hair in 2011. The longer the hair; the more severe the penalty?”

“I’m not sure if it was a team plan but certainly there was provocation there,” Wallahies head coach Dave Rennie said post-match about the incident.

“Not just in that situation but earlier in the game so we’ll have a decent look at the footage and and work out how we’re going to appeal that.

“If it’s a head-butt it’s clearly a red card but I’m not sure it was his intent to head-butt but we will look at the footage and get clarity around whether we think there’s an opportunity to challenge.”

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P
Poe 871 days ago

How come writers are only talking about the face pushing and not the ludicrous hair pull maul clean out? Thars a red all day long. Hill should have got Red and Swain penalised and warned.
The byline of this article is BS too. : Jonny Hill evading sanction for pushing opposition lock Darcy Swain in the face, minutes before the latter saw red in Australia’s tight series opening win against England in Perth, is the talk of social media.

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JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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