Some would say that wouldn’t be too hard, but nonetheless, many thanks.

The Crusaders started slowly but snuck into that top 6 play-off spot recently. The Chiefs are looking like a team that are just enjoying their rugby atm, go Mooloos. How about that prop in the yellow and pink boots?

Give the Blues time, the injuries have set them back, inlcuding the death of Micheal Hobbs’ father, the late great Jock Hobbs. The ban on Rene Ranger wasn’t that fair too, now was it?

The Hurricanes, well, nobody expected to see them win, so they are exceeding expectations.

As rugby players you are sometimes coached or told to go out and ‘hurt’ the opposition and I am all for the physical stuff – but it HAS to remain within the laws of the game – that means physical tackles, clean outs, hand-off’s etc.

This has not place in the game.

As for the punishment, I suppose it has to fit the crime. For me a simple ban from the game (no matter how long) is not enough. Like all ‘criminals’ there needs to be a sense of social responsibility and rehabilitation involved serving the structures or spheres in which the offence was committed, in this case rugby.

This lad should have been given the ‘ball-and-chain’ digging ditches in the game of union if you get my meaning.

It will always be hard to say whether any ban for any length of time is justified especially since he entered a ‘guilty’ verdict.

My biggest concern with this however is that it won’t be long until the party being offended against, takes matters like this outside the jurisdiction of the rugby fraternity where actual criminal charges will be laid against offending players, clubs, unions and controlling bodies.

Good to have your thoughts!

With the advent of slow-mo replays and reverse angles, dodgy incidents receive a lot more attention than yesteryear. This raises the ire of supporters who feel their man has been wronged.

Things do get a bit blurry, however, when an incident such as a tip-tackle gets played over and over in super-slow-mo, in high definition. It tends to look much more deliberate. At normal speed you realise that the tackler had about 0.2 seconds from the collision point till the ball-carrier went crashing down topsy-turvey. TV refs, citing commissioners and the viewing public should be cognisant of this before passing judgement.

Calum Clark? Ban for life I say.

Having watched enough MMA, I know where you are tracking, and it is a sickening sight.

Will be illuminating to gain some insight if Northampton have used such training in their preparations, growing the conversation & detailing the implications, which this instance has opened.

Again, good to have your insight.

For an arm bar?

For certain a life ban.

Even in an MMA training situation we would not go as far as to actually break someone’s arm… hell even in an octagon I have never seen the armbar used to actually overflex the elbow and break the arm.

To see it done in a rugby match causes me to to think that the serial offender really does deserve a life ban.

The Johan Roux Sean Fitzpatrick incident was a one off seeing as Roux did have a clean record and even Fitzy afterwards was man enough to admit he was not being the cleanest of players that day…

This player did an MMA submission move in a situation where even an MMA amateur would never do it…

The problem I see is that many trainers are following the Rebels’ innovation of introducing MMA grappling as apart of their training regimen (David Pocock has improved massively and credits it)… the PROBLEM is that they are getting the wrong MMA guys involved.. A Brazilian Jiu JItsu* trainer is NOT trained to and cannot train others to grapple in a ruck legally… he needs to adopt his training style to take account of rugby rules. I know for instance hat the Golden Lions initially brought in an MMA referee to help them with grappling but John Mitchell felt his training the team Brazilian Jiu Jitsu did not add value, because they needed to train in how to grapple at a breakdown in a rugby match.

To see a submission move from MMA (which is about hurting opponents who are trained and actually fighting back) used by a rugby player in a situation where the ref has blown the whistle and terminated play in the these circumstances tells me this is a thug that the game does not need.

In training I have fixed many arm bars onto many people and I have always had the foresight to release the guy… even an inexperienced fool who does not realize that his arm is about to be overflexed and elbow joint popped out. To see this happen the way it did sickens me and aside from the bully player (whom I would love to display a few additional neck submissions to) I’d like to see the trainer banned too. What he taught the players was not rugby but Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

To finalize

1. Ban the player for life

2. Rugby authorities MUST clamp down on the way grappling martial arts techniques are taught to players. I’m not saying ban it… but it does need to be regulated otherwise you are going to see far more dangerous submission moves on the field… in last year’s match between the Lions and Highlanders for instance in an off the ball incident Michael Rhodes guillotined a Highlanders player and THAT could have ended with death. THAT would have justified life in prison… not a life ban.

* The primary martial art that teaches grappling on the ground with submission moves like this is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
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