LONDON, ENGLAND – The Heineken Cup is in Week 2 and in terms of players misbehaving, it’s like last season’s Final was just yesterday. Heineken Cup Naughty Boys are acting up, to the point you’d think these matches were being playing by candy-fueled children gone mad! This week we see four citings coming into play and one red card. So, let’s get the microscope out and break them down in this week’s Ref Zone.
FIRST INCIDENT: A Tip Tackle by Lifeimi Mafi of Perpignan:
https://youtu.be/PV5QOPBmuBw
Honestly? This is fairly straight forward. It was deserved.
The citing incidents are much less severe, with two receiving a yellow card.
The incidents have produced the following:
Samson Lee of Scarlets has been suspended for two weeks after recklessly using the boot.
Adam Jaulhac of Bordeaux was suspended for one week for reckless used of the fist.
Napolioni Nalaga of ASM Clermont has had his carding deemed sufficient and receives no ban.
Now though, let’s talk tiptackles. Tip tackles seem to have only become a major issue recently, ever since the lovely Welsh Semi-final incident, that is. Why? When looking at the game, it appears that they are much more common than just a few years ago. It’s likely come down to the tackling techniques. Very rarely do you see the tip tackle happen from a little guy on a big guy. Almost always, it’s a big guy on a little guy. As it happens, a person drives upwards in a tackle, causing them to lose control of the players body. Hence causing the rotation.
Here’s the part that I’m having trouble figuring out… How do we fix it? What are your thoughts?
You can leave them below… And please look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter @: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, DJ Eberle, Nick Hall, James Harrington, Cody Kuxmann and Declan Yeats, respectively.
