Tusi Pisi - Dangerous Reckless Idiot?

Anyone else thoroughly fed up with these in the air incidents and how they are being reffed??

http://www.rugbydump.com/2016/12/5512/tusi-pisi-sees-red-for-in-the-air-challenge-during-breakthrough-bristol-win

The message is basically, if anybody is in the air, you better not touch them. That is of course unless you also are in the air.

What does this mean in real terms for a player attempting a catch.

Lets spell one thing out just from the off - YOU WILL NOT CATCH A BALL WELL UNLESS YOU FOCUS FULLY ON THE BALL.

So what options are there? May I suggest some:

1) A player competing for an airborne ball must share his attention between the players on the field around them and the ball in the sky.
   Some chance of succeeding - totally against the nature of the sport/being competitive.
2) A player competing for an airborne ball must always jump, just in case an opposition player does.
   The act of going airborne is a dangerous choice - should we really be forcing players to make the game more dangerous and high risk?
3) A player must decide not to be competitive and simply wait and tackle the opposition catcher.
   Totally against the nature of the sport/being competitive - and a coach will drop you for not competing.


Am I really being so idiotic here to suggest that if you decide with YOUR OWN mind to jump into the air with fast running players all around in a contact sport, that you might have to accept the outcome of YOUR OWN actions.

A TMO can spot when a player is looking at the ball or the player.
Common Sense tells you how much time is required to adjust your speed/direction.
So can we not put an end to this outcome based nonsense?


One last caveat....
The law exists in order to safeguard players and to punish players who do not take due care of those around them. If that is REALLY true, then the same punishment should be handed out even if it's your own team mate that you interfered with.
Would that happen? All the same arguments apply. Carelessness, disregard, player safety. Can you cause your own team mate an incredibly serious neck injury and be immune of the supposed disregard/carelessness?

Your thoughts...

Interesting post - I actually saw an incident last week where a player took a teammate out in the air and thought the same myself - in theory he should have got a yellow card for player safety ... the other area that seems to be ignored is when the airborne player jumps into the path of the oncoming player on the ground

Pisi was hard done by. He actually skipped as if he was going to jump and then pulled out because he was under the ball and didn't need to. The lesson to learn from this is to jump for the ball even if you don't need to. That way if there's an accidental collision in the air you can't be blamed.

With that incident why did Barnes bother looking at a replay? If its automatic red card then why not just show the red card?

The problem with it is that Pisi gets the ball by staying low and Shillcock jumps late because he has to go over him to beat him so is he not more reckless than Pisi?

formerly known as Sam wrote:Pisi was hard done by. He actually skipped as if he was going to jump and then pulled out because he was under the ball and didn't need to. The lesson to learn from this is to jump for the ball even if you don't need to. That way if there's an accidental collision in the air you can't be blamed.

This only works if they both jump at exactly the same time. We've seen numerous examples of a second player jumping to compete only to clatter the first player (who jumped first) in mid air, and the 2nd player then being penalised for dangerous play and taking the man out in the air. I remember a lot of posts about a yellow card in a Wales v Ireland match (I think) where that exact thing happened (again, I think if memory serves).

Maybe they will change the rules soon. How about this: if a team/player chooses to kick they are not allowed to challenge for it in the air? If they kick it then then they lose possession (probably). The team can only challenge once a defender catches and lands. Might stop all of the aerial ping pong we've had in recent years (especially with Wales). I've never been a huge fan of the up 'n under anway. It's such a 50/50 thing. I'd prefer to see a team kick for space or the corner if they absolutely have to kick. Or the grubber. Nothing better than a well executed grubber!

My own view is that it is the running jump that is the problem, not the static jump. I would simply change the laws, or interpretations, to penalise any player who goes for the ball in the air with horizontal momentum - irrespective of whether another player is involved.

This should remove the most dangerous situations, and still allow players to compete for high kicks. They just need to arrive under the ball slightly earlier.

A suggestion. Why not ban jumping for the ball, altogether?
Not such a mad idea since it used to be the case that to make a mark in the 25, both feet had to be on the ground.

Jumping in the lineout allowed of course, but while we're at it, can we ban lifting?

Tackling is dangerous too, lets ban that.

Cardiff Dave wrote:A suggestion. Why not ban jumping for the ball, altogether?
Not such a mad idea since it used to be the case that to make a mark in the 25, both feet had to be on the ground.

I think it's a good idea. Only way to fairly ref the catch.

Scottrf wrote:Tackling is dangerous too, lets ban that.

When Halfpenny gets his head on the wrong side it is, which he often does. Should be carded as a warning to protect him from his invincible self. Can of worms isn't it. Where d'you start and where d'you stop?

Munchkin wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:A suggestion. Why not ban jumping for the ball, altogether?
Not such a mad idea since it used to be the case that to make a mark in the 25, both feet had to be on the ground.

I think it's a good idea. Only way to fairly ref the catch.

Yet jumping in the air to head the ball in footy is fine and never been a problem, as far as I know.

Tusi Pisi isnt an idiot.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:A suggestion. Why not ban jumping for the ball, altogether?
Not such a mad idea since it used to be the case that to make a mark in the 25, both feet had to be on the ground.

I think it's a good idea. Only way to fairly ref the catch.

Yet jumping in the air to head the ball in footy is fine and never been a problem, as far as I know.

But it is obviously a problem in Rugby Union.

It's the jumping high at pace which causes most of the incidents, with the player who doesn't jump often penalised. Doesn't seem very fair to me.