Wasn't this a rugby union issue?

Absolutley agree.

With regards to the assault though maybe he feared he would be subject to an attack and just did a pre emptive strike to defend himself



probably fit the bailey incident with odonnell better but if that had happened in a street with some big lump charging 20m towards you I am sure that a pre emptive strike defence could have been used. You don't have to wait to be hit to defend yourself

Maybe the first one, but not sure he'd get away with the second two.

Agreed. No place for it in the game. I can't believe he didn't get a straight red for that.

You answered perfectly why he got a yellow!

Also, the raising arms thing is a matter of judgement. He doesn't keep them by his sides does he. They're lifted some will think in a pathetic attempt to throw a punch, others will think to block, other will think neither of the above. It's a matter of judgement.

The official is called a Touch Judge or Assistant Referee



This was not just a bit of biff. It was a violent assault by one player on another. Ashton was tackled off the ball by Tuilagi and reacted with no more than a push. For this he suffered a prolonged violent attack.

During the attack Ashton had half raised arms with open palms that looked to be for balance more than for defence and certainly not for attack.

Even if the TJ had thought the push was a punch (which it wasn't) he must have seen the extent of the attack including the third punch. He must have also seen that it was one player using excessive violence on another, rather than a fair fight. For this he should have recommended a red card for Tuilagi and possible yellow for Ashton.

Therefore I think it would be right for the TJ to be questioned by the RFU on his judgement and prove his abilities to officiate at this level in the future.

Having seen some very poor displays by refs in SL they too should have to answer for regular bad decisions and perhaps dropped back a division or two.

I fully understand WHY he got a yellow but remain of the view he was unlucky to do so.

It's perfectly clear that at no stage does he throw a punch or attempt to block a punch. That is my judgment and should be the judgment of any rational viewer.

What is yours?

FALLLCCCOOONNN!

You only have to watch and listen to the video to hear exactly what the touch judge saw, he describes it quite clearly to the referee who then acts solely on his description being that the ref had his back to the whole incident.

To suggest what the TJ should have seen when in fact you can hear quite clearly what he did see is a pointless exercise as is comparing what the TJ saw to what the TV viewer can see, the whole reason for having high quality video recording in the grounds at this level is precisely because the ruling bodies acknowledge that the match officials will not see everything that happens, or will see a different version of events.

All of which goes back to what I said at the start of the thread, its a great advert for the professional respect shown to the officials in both codes of rugby that the sin-binning of both players, one of whom was totally innocent of anything, was simply accepted by the players and all of his team-mates - I dread to think what Mr Savage and his nancy friends would have done in a similar situation.

If everyone who pushed someone off the ball in Union got a yellow card they'd be down to 3 a side after the first ten minutes. His yellow was a joke.

Show some discipline? Like 99.99% of RU players do when given a harmless push.