Manu banned for 5 weeks

Starting tomorrow, can play again on June 23rd.

Not long enough in my opinion.

Punch up - you tube link

When are the England warm up games? Any thoughts on whether or not MJ will give him a pick?

I really hope not as he deserves to be made an example of.

If you were an opposing player - would you not try and bait him a little? You know the ref will be watching him.

Having said that, I am welsh, so pick him!

August Willy. He'll be available.

I agree this is lenient, especially since there are only two weeks left in the season- and one game for Leicester. That's what this amounts to; one match ban.

Supplementaty info - it was reduced from 10 weeks due to provocation by Ashton.

Well thats alright then - ludicrous!

Very rare to see a ban that is correct.The system is flawed as justice is rarely done.Shame.
Biffo happens,c'est la vie,but there should be no place for thuggery.

i really believe this ban is fair. it means not only will manu miss the final but the churchill cup aswell which he has been looking very much forward too.
Further to this here are some of the pleas of mitigation:
1. He was provoked by Ashton, whether you like it or not, whether Ashton is englands goldenboy of the moment or not. he was provoked. at 31 minutes into the game there was a prior incident off the ball which was ashton offending against manu.
2. There were incidents all the way through in the lead up to the incident in the first half, not just by ashton that were clearly having an effect. however there was a knee to the groin by ashton on manu which was deliberate. The cameras didnt pick up on this.
3. ashton was throwing punches and not connecting. You can hardly punish someone harder for the same mens rea and actus reus but with different results and one was more sucessful.
$. manu is only 19, well 20 now. Not many 19 year olds are in the environment of a highly charged derby semi final with all to play for. he did lose his head i am not condoning it by his age but his inexperience really showed through.
therefore i feel the 5 week ban is appropriate, he is missing the biggest game of his life because of a moment of recklessness. Now lets let the boy enjoy his birthday, serve his time and move on with a clean sheet.
Let those with the clean slates be the first to throw stones, it is not like say the god like brian o driscoll or johnno has ever thrown a punch is a moment of madness they are much older and much more experienced.
lets all calm down and accept justice has been done.
3. Ashton was

The only thing I would say about your first comment is yes Ashton did provoke him but thats because Manu had just taken him out off the ball!

Cant comment on other incidents during the game.

he was committed to a challenge that he would have had to make had castro not intercepted, he had to challenge and asthon too thought the play was still on or why would he still be running? The incident at 31 minutes was caught on the tv

Ditto to hobo on the 'other incidents'. All I saw was Ashton taken out off the ball, Ashton pushing MT in the back, then MT jumping up and lamping Ashton 3 times.

I voted 'no' but on the basis that all bans should be for a number of games and not weeks.

Too many excuses Totti.

no i was there i saw it all i agree munishment is nescessary and i believe it is also just

Ashton taken high,off the ball shoves thug in back and gets two digs and a wallop.Where is the provocation?Shameful yet again.

For me, the key point here is that we should have video refereeing.

If the ref has any doubt about a call at the try line he goes straight to the video official. Why not do the same in these kinds of incidents.

It's all very well having a ban after the fact. The most important thing is to get the call right on the field. ie Schalk Burger 2nd Lions test. he should have been sent off.

Refs are going to make mistakes, but if there is a way to ensure those mistakes don't affect the result we should use it

https://servimg.com/view/16496720/3][img]https://i.servimg.com/u/f29/16/49/67/20/manu12.jpg

this is how we see it x

Totti - we have rules about not posting images as we are trtying to keep this "work safe" for people who browse whilst at work.

I have left the link in for people to click on

cheers Hobo

Five weeks is really nothing. Any violence or dangerous play should result in very heavy punishment to discourage such poor behaviour and hopefully eradicate it.

Hobo wrote:

Having said that, I am welsh

You should be quite used to thuggish behaviour then

your not in the stockbroker belt now you know Davie - the rugby boards are full of my brethren!

The poll currently has 84+15+0=99%. You really need either some decimal places or a better rounding mechanism.

Schrodinger's Cat wrote:The poll currently has 84+15+0=99%. You really need either some decimal places or a better rounding mechanism.

Sorry, Professor Hawking

Davie wrote:

Schrodinger's Cat wrote:The poll currently has 84+15+0=99%. You really need either some decimal places or a better rounding mechanism.

Sorry, Professor Hawking

Wrong physicist!

Not long enough in my humble opinion.

I think the example it sets for lower levels is poor.
This level should be a pinnacle of both sporting prowess and rugby ethos.

Nothing personal against Manu, but as others have said, we need to make an example of him.

Provocation is not a defence but it is mitigation. Ashton was equally if not more culpable. The only difference was that Tuilagi managed to land a proper punch. Ashton had no ban so 2-3 weeks max should be the differential, hence the total ban.

I think 5 weeks is fair enough. He'll miss the chance to play England v Barbarians and also will miss the Grand Final. Wouldn't care if it was longer but its a decent punishment.

That's fine, but Ashton should have got a fortnight-three weeks as well if that's the case. This was a two man incident.

Glas a du wrote:That's fine, but Ashton should have got a fortnight-three weeks as well if that's the case. This was a two man incident.

Why? Because he shoved him? Not worthy of a yellow and certainly should not have meant he miss the Heineken Cup final.

What does what matches his club faces have to do with anything? The push was the main factor in the whole incident. You have to put Ashton's behaviour in the balance.

Glas a du wrote:What does what matches his club faces have to do with anything? The push was the main factor in the whole incident. You have to put Ashton's behaviour in the balance.

True the fact it was HEC Final doesn't come into it but a push is not something that warrants a ban. Nonsense.

A push to the back of the neck of a man bent over on the floor? Which in turn lead to a fight? He did try to throw punches as well. The adjudicators :bowler: agree with me anyhoo as they halved his ban due to Ashton's actions. All I'm saying is that there was not 5 weeks difference in what they did.