It looked to me like TP 'dipped' ie bent his knees before impact, so there certainly wasn't any intention of making a high shot. Quite the opposite in fact.

People are still talking about shoulder charges. Replace "shoulder charge" with "tackle" and it's the same argumant.

That wasn't a shoulder, that was head on head and reckless from a cas player, when the game was well gone.

Similar to the one westwood did on Kirke a few weeks ago, as a wire fan, i can't say i was overly pleased with him doing that, no technique in it other than "running as fooking hard as i can to get 'im"

same with this, that was shoulder to shoulder and kidwell's head that caused the mouse under mason's eye.

just not enough. tommy's hit on the saint helens player was picture perfect and shows why a shoulder charge has a place in the game but not a lazzy one where they just turn and smash the shoulder anywhere. not only can it end a players career it also put the team at a disadvantage for the rest of the game as there a player down.

So it depends which club you play for now?

I find the hypocrisy on here remarkable, it's all 100% club based as well. There was nothing in the Puletua tackle at all, bar the badge on his shirt and you know it.

If we're ruling all shoulder charges which make contact with the head (Despite having no proof of that) as red cards, are all high tackles the same now then? There are four or five a game, every game which impact first on the head. Are we going to send all those players off as well? Or just the ones who play for Saints?

Hate to say this but I agree with Sadsack. An attack to someone's head is one thing, but someone essentially running into the defender's shoulder is something else.

Absolutely nothing in the Puletua tackle. If Mounis is stupid enough to run straight into someone's shoulder that's his daft fault. You run at gaps, not 6' 4" Pacific Islanders. That said, it's part of the game and it will always happen. I've done it, and I've done it to other people, it's a risk of the collision, and Puletua won that collision.

However, Inglis's attack is something else, he's advancing at speed towards the attacker and aims his upper body at the runner, resulting in the high collision. That's the sort of attack that needs punishing.

This sanitisation of RL is getting petty. Was it Meli who was penalised for a completely innocuous contact off the ball? Rubbish.

Oh come on, Puletua executed a forearm smash not a shoulder charge (dons tin hat)

And tbh, they usually spend their off-season having shoulder surgery. It's not just dangerous for the ones getting hit

jason hooper made a career out of doing nothing but shoulder charging kickers, he ended up retiring having fooked his shoulder up so bad.

People saying it was consistent with the Moa incident are correct that it was consistent, but it was the wrong decision.

Both shoulder charges were powerful hits, that jolted back the attacker in such a way that then propelled their head in to the defender, so this is where the ref says contact with the head, your off, which is utterly stupid!

I used to be a big fan of the "big hit" shoulder charge since I've seen it for many years. I even defended Moa earlier this season. However, my view has changed and I can see it being firmly outlawed going forward.

In March this year I read a newspaper article whilst in Australia which basically was full of interviews with various NRL medics and they collectively warned of the dangers of the shoulder charge. There were numerous stories of significant injuries and due to the technique being different from a normal tackle, the risk of serious injury is higher. Unfortunately I read the article whilst on an internal Qantas flight so cannot reproduce the article to share.

As a neutral watching Friday's match, all the replays indicated to me a clear contact with the head. (I don't care what any Saints fan says on here or otherwise). The tackle/charge looked awful and the decision probably the correct one. Now as for that disallowed Catalan try at the end..................

I agree.

The shoulder charge is horribly bordering on dangerous and reckless. It's one for the crowds though!