There's a video on the Cas board of it on slow mo, pause it at 11 seconds the contact is with his shoulder.

The problem is, Chase has a horrible technique for shoulder charging which involves limbs all over the place so at full speed (and knowing what happens as a result) it looks horrible.

However, one thing people haven't mentioned - early guilty plea if he gets charged, so 1 game.



The fact first contact with the shoulder gives a big clue to say it wasn't intentional...if he wanted to take his head off he would have clotheslined him wouldn't you think?

EDIT:

Watched it again, contact is with his bicep, and with the angle both players are on (Ropati is side stepping and slightly lowered)...purely mistimed.

Early guilty plea only counts if the player has a clean record in the last 12 months. Chase hasn't.

Can see the arm bent, raised and swung. No defending that.

4-5 games and a fine. Hope ropati recovers ok.

It looked like a deliberate head shot to me, as has already been said, the ban received should reflect the length of time the injured player is out for, if Ropati is going to be out for 8 weeks, so should Chase.

Chase had obviously lost his head and went in with the intention of hurting the ball carrier. I think it was a rush of blood and obviously I doubt his intentions were to be that serious. Although Chase does have past form for losing his head and putting cheap shots in. I think the RFL gradings prevent big bans. I wouldn't have him playing for England till he grows up.

Ands it also gets you the lower end of the sanction range, and is only useable on a grade A-C charge.

Intentional strike with elbow while tackling is D-F, which caries minimum of 3-5 (Grade D) to 8+ or period suspesion (Grade F)

rlhttp://www.therfl.co.uk/~rflmedia/docs/On%20Field%20Compliance%20Sentencing%20Guidelines%202012%20-%20Final.pdfrl

Section 2.3.4 also refers to injury to the fouled player as being as agrivating factor in the decision.

So what would an unintentional strike with a bicep be?

Seems if you watch the slow mo replay, you would see Chase's elbow never actually makes contact with Ropati, it's just his daft technique makes it look that way at full speed.

Just watched it, several times, and saw it (and repl;ayed it yesterday) several times. How anyone can defend that as being an accidental shoulder/bicep, is quite frankly laughable.

It's amazing what knowing the outcome does to peoples judgement, isn't it?

Like I've said numerous times now, pause it at 11 seconds and you'll see his elbow isn't what hits Ropati.

It's amazing what club bias does to some people's judgement, isn't it?

Ah so club bias means you can't observe photographic proof now does it?

If you want to talk about an intentional elbow, look no further than Ryan McGoldrick.

If you want to get into arguments about how many times an opinion has been given, I'd respectfully suggest your one is on very very shakey ground.

tbh I'd suggest the poster is either a) Chase or b) his legal team desperately trying to plant ideas.