@damo2353 I think the reason the ref blew whistle early, was not because he was scared of a brawl, it was out of concern for the tackled player, he may have been concussed at the bottom of the ruck
That halfback is pretty tough, as soon as he hit the ground he was looking for someone to pass to, he kept playing after this as well, and he ran it at the line a few times, NORTHLAND PRIDE!!!
@jamesstafforduk The referee cannot play advantage there because if he lets it go too long before blowing the whistle he risks an all-in brawl. Not playing advantage in situations like that is something you learn very early as a referee.
He could have so easily broken his neck with that clothesline forearm. 3 weeks, should have got 3 months for that. Leave crap like that in the wrestling ring of WWE.
Given the fact that rugby is professional and so many people are watching it these days you CANNOT compare it with what happened 30 - 40 years ago. Yes JPR was tackled high on a number of occasions but you never had the numbers of people watching the game that you do now. JPR would have struggled to keep up with the game these days it is so much faster than back then. You only need to look at modern front rowers to see it. I get so sick of people saying that professionalism has softened the game
@Thomasuki267 It doesn't matter if he could have tackled him legally. The referee should have awarded a penalty try because he has to say "if the infringing player had not been there, would it have definitely been a try?" He has to remove the player from the equation. I also don't know much of him, but I agree, it didn't look malicious. We've all done it, been stepped and instinct has made the arm go up.
Luke Hamilton was robbed of a brilliant try there. This guy is a great halfback, he has a very quick pass that doesn't require two or three steps like all the modern day halfbacks, and he is dynamite round the ruck area and over the first 40 metres. Will be suprised if he doesn't get picked up by a super franchise!
A penalty try does not come from a "certain try" argument...it is if a try "most probably" would have been scored. If you are going to throw in the argument he could have tripped then we would have zero penalty tries in the game.
Not a serious incident when you consider the player was fine and all could see that immediately. So on that call IF you are going to blow instantly you give a penalty try. Not too far out when if not for the high tackle it was a cert try.
The blue team were pissed off about the tackle, they wanted to fight, but they took one look at Fritz Lee and thought "Screw that, I aint picking a fight with that big guy"
@robholt77 lol why is everyone hating on Fritz that much lol...accidents happen, weve seen countless high tackles like this (maybe not this bad) becoz when someone gets stepped their reaction is to throw their arm across like what Lee did, the probem is the guy he was tackling is 3ft 5 lol
@bwaaay ... It was unintentional - but at that level players shouldnt have their arms flapping around solidly at neck-height. That could have easily knocked the player out and had Hamilton landed on his head, SERIOUS damage. Overreaction? The referee didn't go in swearing or insulting the player - he brought him out of the crowd, red carded him and sent him on his way.
@187prettyboy Yeah, that too, good point. Still, it is generally not a good idea to play much advantage in situations of blatant foul play like that because things can get ugly quickly.
He got sent off, that's fair but what was nice about the whole incident, none of his team mates went into a full on frenzy with Lee, they let the ref deal with it. Can you imagine if that would been football!? WW3 would have started with players coming in from the length of the pitch away to 'have a pop', so respect to the rugby boys once more!! One more thing...shouldn't it have been a penalty try?
Anybody can tackle like this and hurt people. The real tough guys are the players that hurt players in legal tackles - i.e. Brian Lima, Frank Bunce, Joe Stanley...
I don't think it was a guaranteed try; there was a prospect he could have tackled legally, and another man. A likely try, yes. The hit is very bad, but it looked like bad judgment in the heat of battle, not malice. Red card appropriate, he apparently got 3 weeks suspension, which should encourage people to do better, but I can't say Lee is all that bad for this, and I have no prior knowledge of him or allegiance to the teams in question.
That Fritz Lee should have had a hiding off Luke Hamilton's teammates!!! He should be banned for life. Disgrace to the game which is hard enough without foul play. THUG!!!!
@bwaaay it's called DELIBERATE RECKLESSNESS which is just as bad as deliberate intent -- most players don't deliberately intend to hurt anyone, incidents like this are about a player totally indifferent to the potential consequences of going in wild and out of control, with absolutely no desire to follow the "duty of care" concept as set out in the rules