He chose to "knock the ball out" with a closed fist. so if he got it wrong there was no option for the ref, If it was a slap with open hand it would have been a yellow at worst.

So your saying that Raynor accidentally clenched his fist and swung recklessly at an opposition player with zero regard for the consequences to his victim if he got it wrong?

So your saying that Raynor accidentally clenched his fist and swung recklessly at an opposition player with zero regard for the consequences to his victim if he got it wrong?

At that speed i don't think he thought anything but stop a try being scored.

He's played the game long enough to calculate the odds of taking the action he did even at that pace. While there's an element of instinct in that speed of decision making, players at that level do know what their doing before they do it.

It was an accident, nothing more.

You're giving Raynor far too much credit. This is the guy that spent time inside for selling fake ink cartridges.

Anyway, back to the game... Royston is having a good un

In your opinion!

In my opinion it was one of the worst and most cowardly malicious attacks to the head I've seen for some time.

There's no place for it in today's game and players who perpetrate that kind of attack should be shown the door.

I think the red card was correct but I think he tried to swing his arm and hope to knock the ball out of Tomkins hands but got it wrong as Sam dived and caught him high.

Clearly!

Obviously Raynor should have predictied the dive and trajectory of it.