The incident was a welcome relief from a second half which had already ventured into embarrassment territory. It woke up a crowd who had entered that eerily silent 'Oh s**t, we're getting hammered' mode during the previous 10 to 15 minutes... a mode we're all too often familiar with when our teams play the Aussies. It turned an instinctively silent and forgettable second half from a Leeds POV into what may turn out to be an unforgettable episode of biff and an opportunity to redefine the terms of the contest. Plenty of folk in the North Stand had already vacated their seats and gone home so they missed it.

As da kidz say nowadays "Chat sh*t get banged"

Two giants going toe to toe the same as one big bloke hitting a little bloke who's lying on the floor? Shut your face.

They were right. Hohoia did start and and did deserve the first crack.


However, what Hohoia didn't deserve was the second punch. That is what separates Flower's act of thuggery and last night was the second punch to a prone Hohoia.


Anyone upset with last night's antics would be spontaneously combusting had they seen any of the Auckland tour games in 1987.

You slap a player like Tamou did then expect something back in return. Fair enough that Garbutt was backing his team mate up,but daft in the context of the game and the ban he will get.

Lame. He knocked the guy to the floor and broke his nose. Job done. Or are you suggesting that he should attack the player whilst on the floor, now who would that remind you of

Predictable faux outrage over a bit of biff is the same side of the coin as defending or celebrating biff when it's one of your own players committing it.

Surely it was our best attack of the half? No?

Nothing like each other, as much as I condemn Garbutt, the two incidents aren't the same!

It was one hell of a punch. I bet there's no one in the prop forward union condoning it. Garbutt didn't come running in from nowhere or take a cheap shot. They were facing it each other and he threw a peach. His reaction afterwards summed it up for me. He could have done a Hock and kept swinging but I think he had a moment and realised he'd messed up. Yeah, he'll get a ban but so what. This is a physical game where they're playing on the limits. You can't play it without aggression and some times that will boil over (remember Kylie's headbutt on Fox?).

What stood out to me also was after the game. It had been a physical contest but the respect amongst the players was there to be seen. People need to get off their high horses and like someone else said, watch a softer sport if they don't like it

I remember this forum going into meltdown when Lee Briers... that's right... Lee Briers LOL... took an air-swing at Carl Ablett and almost connected.

Faux outrage by plenty.

Think that was more because the ref did nothing. Last night the ref rightly gave a red card.

That incident from 1997 actually illustrates the difference in the game now regarding punches
Mac was sent of for throwing 2 unprovoked punches (to a smaller man)
The other forwards from both sides then pile in the punches to defend teammates but no action is taken with them as they are not the agressors
Garbutt wasnt the agressor so for me a red was harsh though he probably shouldve been binned, although I also think Tamou shoud've just been warned though, overreaction in general from the ref

BTW the cowboys coach clearly had the same opinion as he just laughed about it

Any youtube footage of him ting that student?

I wonder if he keeps a straight face when disciplining his players?

2 match ban after EGP submitted. "Concerning act notification" for Tamou from the NRL.