Ireland vs. BaaBaas

[goodNumber10]

He's 122kg, the guy he hit was on the floor with absolutely nowhere to go, and therefore no give, he dropped his knee into his back. The bit of the vertabrae that Heaslip broke are easy to fracture, and I'd bet a lot of money that what McGrath did, combined with his size, could have resulted in the same. Should have been a straight red and a decent sized ban.

^^This! Very much this!

 

[Raggs]

^^This! Very much this!

Joke is, he only avoided a red because it was a Baabaas game, and then as he didn't get the red, there was no automatic citing to follow.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

His history should have zero bearing on him being cited.

He never said it did... Hartley only got a ban because of his bad record though...

He's 122kg, the guy he hit was on the floor with absolutely nowhere to go, and therefore no give, he dropped his knee into his back. The bit of the vertabrae that Heaslip broke are easy to fracture, and I'd bet a lot of money that what McGrath did, combined with his size, could have resulted in the same. Should have been a straight red and a decent sized ban.

Look at it again, McGrath makes contact with his upper body with the Irish player lying on top first. He's decelerating before contact with the Baabaa's player which would reduce the force of impact hugely. Compare this to Pape, although he is considerably lighter than McGrath at 115kg and that the weight of the offender should definitely be taken into account by the citing commission it's still far worse.



Heaslip is in a maul using his legs to keep him upright so again there is no give, another vital factor to be taken into account by the citing commission, Pape propels himself straight at Heaslip's back and has no intention other than making contact with Heaslip's back. The two incidents are incomparable. McGrath got a yellow, both the ref and TMO thought this was the right decision, no one thought it was a red at the time and in real time the incident looks almost harmless. Yellow and no citing may have been a tiny bit lenient and a red may have been deserved, never worthy of a ban though.<iframe id="rufous-sandbox" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="display: none;"></iframe>

 

[TRF_Olyy]

That is utterly ridiculous that he's not been cited.

 

[Jbobo]

Apart from a knee going into the back the two incidents are incomparible. McGrath's knee could never have caused injury in this case.

I don't understand this? Of course it could have caused injury.

I think he should have been cited, a knee in the back is a knee in the back.

 

[goodNumber10]

Look at it again, McGrath makes contact with his upper body with the Irish player lying on top first. He's decelerating before contact with the Baabaa's player which would reduce the force of impact hugely. Compare this to Pape, although he is considerably lighter than McGrath at 115kg and that the weight of the offender should definitely be taken into account by the citing commission it's still far worse.



Heaslip is in a maul using his legs to keep him upright so again there is no give, another vital factor to be taken into account by the citing commission, Pape propels himself straight at Heaslip's back and has no intention other than making contact with Heaslip's back. The two incidents are incomparable. McGrath got a yellow, both the ref and TMO thought this was the right decision, no one thought it was a red at the time and in real time the incident looks almost harmless. Yellow and no citing may have been a tiny bit lenient and a red may have been deserved, never worthy of a ban though.<iframe id="rufous-sandbox" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="display: none;"></iframe>

He places his hands on the other irish player then drops his full weight of 122kg onto someones back using the point of his knee, there is no supporting his upper body on the "other player", he does this right after madigan stamps on the same player....claiming anything else is just silly, they should have both been cited.

If anything it's more dangerous than the Pape incident as the weight is downwards and on the exact point of the knee - McGrath knew what he was doing, he's even looking down, it's intentional and vicious.

 

[MotherRucker1]

Haven't seen the Pape one as it's unavailable for my country, but no excuse for the knee to the back imo - that's as blatant as blatant gets. When it's unintentional and clumsy you can usually tell. Kinda reminds me of Higginbotham "accidentally" stomping and walking on McCaw's head. Not buying it. If I saw that in Super rugby I'd expect a red card and a ban of at least 7 weeks (not an arbitrary figure - the last player to drop a knee got that amount.)

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

He places his hands on the other irish player then drops his full weight of 122kg onto someones back using the point of his knee, there is no supporting his upper body on the "other player", he does this right after madigan stamps on the same player....claiming anything else is just silly, they should have both been cited.

If anything it's more dangerous than the Pape incident as the weight is downwards and on the exact point of the knee - McGrath knew what he was doing, he's even looking down, it's intentional and vicious.

Hands in this argument include forearm and elbow but let's just make it sound bad. If he wasn't supporting his upper body he wouldn't have been able to get his knee down there, he is a very compact 122kg man after all. If raking a player in an illegal position can result in a citing these days rugby really needs to man up.

And no, no it's not. Simple physics can tell us this, Pape has more force attacking Heaslip who's movement is very restricted and in a more vulnerable position to the Baabaa's lock. Pape was accelerating, already moving very quickly, McGrath was slowing down. In real time the incident looks harmless, with the aid of slow motion we can see it probably should have been a red but no more. (As in citing but no ban)

 

[psychic duck]

Hands in this argument include forearm and elbow but let's just make it sound bad. If he wasn't supporting his upper body he wouldn't have been able to get his knee down there, he is a very compact 122kg man after all. If raking a player in an illegal position can result in a citing these days rugby really needs to man up.

And no, no it's not. Simple physics can tell us this, Pape has more force attacking Heaslip who's movement is very restricted and in a more vulnerable position to the Baabaa's lock. Pape was accelerating, already moving very quickly, McGrath was slowing down. In real time the incident looks harmless, with the aid of slow motion we can see it probably should have been a red but no more. (As in citing but no ban)

I can accept might not quite warrant Pape's 10 weeks. But no ban at all? Really? It should had at least had something, probably between 4-6 weeks.

 

[goodNumber10]

Hands in this argument include forearm and elbow but let's just make it sound bad. If he wasn't supporting his upper body he wouldn't have been able to get his knee down there, he is a very compact 122kg man after all. If raking a player in an illegal position can result in a citing these days rugby really needs to man up.

And no, no it's not. Simple physics can tell us this, Pape has more force attacking Heaslip who's movement is very restricted and in a more vulnerable position to the Baabaa's lock. Pape was accelerating, already moving very quickly, McGrath was slowing down. In real time the incident looks harmless, with the aid of slow motion we can see it probably should have been a red but no more. (As in citing but no ban)

Disagree with all of that sorry.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I can accept might not quite warrant Pape's 10 weeks. But no ban at all? Really? It should had at least had something, probably between 4-6 weeks.

If that happened to me on a pitch I wouldn't expect anything to come of it, the level I play at is obviously officiated worse and less strict than international rugby, but to miss competitive rugby for that doesn't seem right to me! It really is about as bad as what Henderson did against Munster a few weeks ago... I did think the red card was harsh then too.

Disagree with all of that sorry.

No need to apologise. We're all on here to give our opinions, I'll never begrudge anyone for disagreeing with my often flawed ones! <iframe id="rufous-sandbox" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="display: none;"></iframe>