And you'd be wrong. I've defended players from other clubs before and will do again if I think they've got a duff decision.


There is a frame in the view from behind the sticks that clearly shows impact on the shoulder/chest before impact with the chin. And the ref didn't see anything initially. Neither did any of the players in the immediate vicinity. It was only after repeated replays that Silverwood makes a decision. I'm not sure whether he got the nod from the VR or if he allowed the replays to affect his decision but either way his initial reaction was that there was nothing untoward.

Please explain why the London players made no response other than a couple of them consoling Moa for the red card?

Besides many unbiased fans have argues against the sending off in this very thread.

So far?

Ben Galea, Ben Kavenagh, Kev Brown, Martin Offiah, Danny Washbrook, Scott Murrell, Sam Tomkins, Shaun Briscoe, Jamie Foster. That I know of.

Quite right too. A penalty, yes but no more. You can't just whack somebody in the head and knock him out cold but I don't think it was deliberately high so a straight red was very harsh. Fortunately it didn't have much of an impact on the outcome of the game

<s>

So not even a Sending Off Sufficient? Does that mean it shouldn't have been red?

There's a mistake on there somewhere. Underneath where it says 'no charge' it says 'referred to tribunal'.

I dont mind that, i dont mind that being the rule and us moving forward with that. But i think it leaves far too much to chance to judge it was do. Either contact with the head is allowed or it isnt, Either Moa's tackle was dangerous or it wasnt. The fact the tackle ended with Rinaldi knocked out should be irrelevant. He should either be sent off for any contact whatsoever with the head, or Moa's tackle is fine.

It can't be that simple, unfortunately. It's almost impossible not to contact the head in a tackle at some point, usually during the phase when the tackled player is being put to the floor. Usually it's nothing more sinister than ear-to-ear contact as the tackler has his head to one side of the carrier, or the inside of the arm to the side of the head if the tackler has his arm over the player's shoulder. There's nothing inherently dangerous about such contact as long as the head isn't being used as a lever. So when the contact is made, and the degree of impact, is very important. Similarly, as this thread has established, a high tackle can encompass many different types, from the Rob Burrow sidestepping a much taller guy and getting an open-palmed slap (careless), to the Tommy Lee attempted decapitation (deliberate), through the Sam Moa shoulder to the chin (negligent - IMO). There has to be a judgement about the severity of the offence, just as a holding down offence is always technically the same, but under certain circumstances (eg : after a breakaway), is a sin-binning offence. Similarly, players use bad language on the field all the time, often to the ref. But muttering about blind b@stards in the defensive line is very different to standing in front of the ref and calling him a blind b@stard to his face.

There'll always be a need for judgment. Nobody wants to see every carelessly lunged, but ultimately harmless high slap result in dismissal, but everyone wants to see a deliberate attack to the head resulting in unconsciousness result in a red. Where you draw the line is always going to be a matter of judgement, and black and white rules can't provide the necessary flexibility.

technically, holding down is deliberate, there's no either or in that instance. It is a deliberate premeditated act as instructed by coaches everywhere so your analogy is debunked I'm afraid
You also keep banging on about a deliberate attack (in which case it would be common assault or even ABH), you've got zero evidence to support your theory with all due respect and given the nastiness of some of the comments on this forum it is on the cusp of slandering him in public.

Excuse me. Hate to embarrass you, but if you look at the Disciplinary part of the RFL Website you'll see that the entry re Moa has been changed. He's got an afternoon off training tomorrow in order to visit Red Hall to answer a charge re a RECKLESS Tackle, which is exactly what some of us have been talking about for the past 24 hours.

Players have never been sent off for attempting to deliberately knock someone's head off but failing have they? I've seen that loads of times, with swinging arms just failing to connect to the head where it seems pretty clear that the intent was to injure or at best being negligent as to the potential result. Personally I'm entirely in agreement with RH on this - you have to allow some judgement to be involved.