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Slap on the wrist ban for brutal incident caught on camera
By Sam Smith
In a shocking incident caught on camera, a rugby player has been filmed kneeing and kicking another player in the face during a ruck in an unnamed fixture.
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The reckless actions of the number 26 player have sparked widespread condemnation and calls for disciplinary action online.
The incident occurred during a routine ruck, with the attacking team protecting the ball. But things took a violent turn when the number 26 player came through first with a knee, before following through with a kick to the face of an opposing player.
The safety of the game has been a hot topic in recent years, and incidents like this only serve to further fuel the debate. The player who was on the receiving end of the kick shared the video on Reddit and spoke out against the violent behaviour, calling for action to be taken against the perpetrator.
“I’m the guy who got his lights knocked out. 2 weeks of concussive symptoms, and two months into rehab for my left MCL and I find out this is only worthy of a one match ban.”
“You could argue that the first impact was unintentional. But I would argue that he intentionally did not hold back. Anyone here who’s played rugby for a number of years can see that he was in no position to contest the ruck. I’d like to think most of us would’ve just held back from crashing in knees first into a ruck.
“I don’t have much else to say about the follow-through. Needless to say there was no card given during the match.”
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“Given the recent bans/cards given out at an alarming rate, for clear-outs less dangerous than this. I found it absolutely ridiculous for it to be a one match ban.”
“It’s probably my fourth or fifth concussion over 15 years of playing. And I’m seriously considering walking away from the sport I love so much. Being side-lined for over two months being unable to exercise has really taken its toll. Now that I’m a new father as well, maybe I need to stop putting myself in risky situations…”
I'm coming at this as a qualified ref and experienced coach across broad scale ability groups, pro to beginner. I see the outrage expressed here and have been drawn to the click bait! It merits a thorough analysis, less we get caught up in mis-identification and forget the nature of the game we play and the things that we are responsible for in making it the finest game on the planet.
Firstly the obvious statement needs to be made that player safety is everyone's responsibility and reckless intent and pre-meditated violence have no place in the game we love, and if proven, must be punished accordingly.
The second obvious point is that slow motion always makes these things look horrendous, as it overly simplifies every dynamic force at play.
What nobody in this thread has commented on at all is the utter shambles of this ruck, which is the primary context of this incident: players off their feet, heads down, bad angles, arched backs, poorly clearing and securing, not looking after each other or identifying the threat. Just 'piling' in.
Granted these are rank amateurs, but for Pete's sake, the muppet blue-26 should never have stumbled through that mess in the first place. Yellow-2 made a bad choice and tried to seal with a very poor body position. The correct option for him, having identified that yellow-3 had utterly failed his duty [to clear the space beyond the ball], was to also clear through and take the man infront of him out of the contest - in this case blue-26. The extent of his injuries are unfortunate, and I wish him a short and full recovery that he may continue to enjoy the game.
Now, watching blue-26 more closely, you can see that he is immediately focused on clearing out yellow-3 with his weight on the front foot, unsighted to yellow-2 at this stage. Yellow-3 is now off-balance and doesn't have the skill or strength to deal with blue-26, going off his feet ineffectively.
Blue-26 slides passed yellow-3, at this point clearly unbalanced, having expected to have met more resistance than a falling object, and rather than collapse headlong into the ruck, he makes an effort to stay on his feet, bringing his left leg through.
The slow motion captures an angle on the knee that makes it look as though it is aimed at the head of yellow-2, who is by now crouching over the ball in a very vulnerable position, eyes down, knee height, back of head showing. Given the flow and context, I cannot see enough evidence of deliberate intent here from blue-26. He is off balance and trying to find his feet as his force takes him forward into they ruck.
Now dragging his left leg through to stay on his feet, a commendable effort, however ridiculous it appears on slow motion VT. He stays on his feet at the ruck and exits out the side. Yellow-2 is now unconscious (knocked out), and his 'tonic posturing' (arm raised as he falls) is the tell-tale sign. His limp body simply rolls back without resistance flowing with blue-26's momentum.
Looking closely, there is absolutely no lateral or forward force secondary contact from blue-26's boot to the yellow-2's head, as his left leg flows forwards. There is no 'kick' here.
The ref doesn't give a penalty for rucking indiscipline and is unsighted as to the previous head impact. In fact I am surprised that the ref doesn't penalise the yellow team as they continue to fall through the ruck, with the white scrum hat going off his feet, again not being safe or effective at the ruck and not taking any man.
If blue-26's intent was reckless, the less risk more devious option for him would have been to have collapsed into yellow-2 whilst kneeing him, rather than staying on his feet.
We don't know the wider context of the game, what the ref's pre-match advice had been around the breakdown, or further foul play or carded transgressions from this player or others.
Where perhaps there is recourse, is the failure of blue-26 to immediately address the now unconscious yellow-2 and raise the referee's attention to it. He shows a degree of callous truculence, raises his arms, shrugs it off.
We've all played with and against players like this, who have a bit of an attitude. But in someways, in a contact sport that encourages aggression with controlled violence, we value players who can 'give it and take it'.
On the wider coaching aspects and indeed refereeing aspects that have directly contributed to this outcome, I would say the following. To the coach of the yellows: you need to work hard on support play and rucking technique, prioritising your player's physical conditioning and key skill-sets, roles and outcomes, critical safety etc. Your players need to look after each other. To the ref: A lot of the safety focus on the game is all around the height of the tackle and head injuries, but if the breakdown area becomes riotous and ill-disciplined, then this is where most of the injuries and foul play will happen. If you don't set the tone early for the game and punish transgressions with disciplinary measures, then things get out of hand quickly.
The knee is definitely reckless and the kick looks malicious even if it didnt connect - 1 game seems low. I was intentionally kicked in the face in a game and it snapped my teeth off and they lodged into the roof of my mouth - that guy got 4 game ban
This is meaningless: We need to know teams, location and date.