Haskell Yellow: What can players get away with?

First topic message reminder :

Watching the game today (on French TV), I was shouting at the ref when he yellowed Haskell. Haskell's actions looked innocent, even on the replay - he was trying to get away.

I still think that, but Haskell has form. If he did kick the ball, it was skilfully done to fool me, and probably most England fans.

Would a more "innocent" player have got away with that? It's said McCaw gets away with a lot, but if someone without a reputation did that - say Cole or Wood, would they have been yellow carded?

Believe me, Haskell knew EXACTLY what he was doing... this sort of thing happens even at lower league rugby where players "were just trying to get out of the way". These are professional players, so there can be no excuse. The old addage applies of "if there was a hand grenade in there, you'd soon get out of the way!"

maestegmafia wrote:I am amazed to read posters suggesting Cole was not obstructing. He is on the wrong side of the ruck.

What Healy did us wrong, but as he is not a dirty player, has no reputation for violent behaviour he is unlikely to get a big ban. A week or two is sufficient.

It doesn't look like Healy intended to hurt Cole and it doesn't look like Cole was hurt at all as a result. He played on regardless.

Cole was on the wrong side, and was trying to make a nuisance of himself. However, he wasn't massively interfering given that he was under the ball and had already given away a penalty anyway. In contrast to Healy, look at O'Mahony. It was a bit cheeky that he came in even later than Healy to give Cole a shoeing, but he essentially just rucked him rather than stamping. I'm not sure how you can comment on Healey's intent to injure. He stamped, pretty much full force, on a guy's ankle. To me, that looks pretty serious - the mitigating factor, as you say is that Healy doesn't have a reputation for thuggery. A couple of weeks on the sidelines would be proportionate, I'd guess.

It looked pretty cynical, but to be fair to Hask, he was probably trying to get out of there quickly before some Irish swine stamped on him

and as for Healy, stamping is banned is it not? deliberately targeting a joint such as the knee, elbow or ankle should warrant a higher ban than if it were a limb or torso.

TJ wrote:jbeadle / others - have you actually looked at the replays? Murray is trying to get the ball out from behind Coles legs as Healy runs up - gets his hands on it just before Healy arrives but Cole is still trying to block the ball as Healy stamps on his leg - which is when the ball finally comes out

Its not a red card offense is it? Its a yellow most likely I would have said. Its not a deliberate attempt to maim.

Yes stamping is a straight red. It is dangerous foul play, players know this and they also know why it is banned and the risks associated with it especially when targeting vulnerable areas. Its different to old style "rucking" where the boot is raked across the player to push them out the way and cause discomfort.

He also threw a stiff arm in the game at someones head. Healy just lost his cool, which is quite ironic ghiven how much time and effort ireland have put into trying to wind up englands front row over the last few years.

It may be out of character but he should be cited and receive a ban, which is quite annoying as I have him in my fantasy team ( at least he didnt get carded during the game)

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

TJ wrote:jbeadle / others - have you actually looked at the replays? Murray is trying to get the ball out from behind Coles legs as Healy runs up - gets his hands on it just before Healy arrives but Cole is still trying to block the ball as Healy stamps on his leg - which is when the ball finally comes out

Its not a red card offense is it? Its a yellow most likely I would have said. Its not a deliberate attempt to maim.

Yes stamping is a straight red. It is dangerous foul play, players know this and they also know why it is banned and the risks associated with it especially when targeting vulnerable areas. Its different to old style "rucking" where the boot is raked across the player to push them out the way and cause discomfort.

He also threw a stiff arm in the game at someones head. Healy just lost his cool, which is quite ironic ghiven how much time and effort ireland have put into trying to wind up englands front row over the last few years.

It may be out of character but he should be cited and receive a ban, which is quite annoying as I have him in my fantasy team ( at least he didnt get carded during the game)

Thompson got a week for much less of a stamp than Cole delivered (granted it was to the head rather than the ankle), and people on here were outraged at the leniency (personally I thought that one deserved 2 weeks). This one should be 3 or 4 weeks, and I hope that if the ref saw it he gets a telling off from the IRB for not getting his red card out.