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Anyone who watched Sunday morning’s Super League grand final between St Helens and Wigan will have witnessed one of the worst, and probably most violent, acts in recent rugby league history by Ben Flower.
The match was just over two minutes old when Wigan prop Ben Flower punched St Helens five-eighth Lance Hohaia not once, but twice. The second hit came while the ex-New Zealand Warriors utility was already out cold thanks to the effect of the first punch.
It came with Wigan in a good position to score the first try of the match, only for the Warriors to knock-on, following which a huge brawl broke out after Flower had floored Hohaia with a double knock-out.
Not surprisingly, Flower then became the first man to be red carded in a Super League grand final, leaving the Warriors to play out the rest of the match a man down. Despite this disadvantage, they led 6-2 at half-time as they sought to successfully defend their title.
However St Helens, coached by former St George Illawarra Dragons mentor Nathan Brown for the last time before he returns to Australia for family reasons, overcame the deficit to eventually win 14-6. Fromer Sydney Roosters centre Iosia Soliola and Tommy Makinson scored the two second-half tries for the Saints.
It ended a streak of five consecutive grand final losses, all of which came in a five-year period between 2007 and 2011. The victory also saw them qualify for next year’s World Club Series, where they will face this year’s NRL premiers, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, in the showpiece match.
The Bunnies, of course, broke their 43-year premiership drought last week when three tries in the last 10 minutes saw them crush the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 30-6 in the grand final. For them, it will be their debut appearance in the competition.
It was announced last month that the World Club Series, which was formerly called the World Club Challenge, would be overhauled to include other teams from both the English Super League and NRL.
From Australia, not only did the Rabbitohs qualify by default of winning the premiership, the Brisbane Broncos and St George Illawarra Dragons have been invited to participate.
In addition to St Helens qualifying, runners-up Wigan and Warrington have also accepted invitations to participate.
The series will see three matches played, the first two being exhibition matches between Super League and NRL teams, and the last will be the feature match between the two premiers. That of course will see St Helens play the Rabbitohs for the major trophy.
Anyway, back to the main topic now and Ben Flower’s double-blow to the face of Lance Hohaia must surely rank as one of the most vicious acts in rugby league history, wherever and whenever it might be.
Many took to social media and suggested that he should be charged with assault, or even sent to prison. Former Channel Nine commentator Andrew Voss said the incident was “as bad as I have ever seen”.
There have been a few precedents before, especially in the NRL, but none were more violent.
In 2004, then-Melbourne Storm forward Danny Williams copped an 18-match ban for king-hitting Wests Tigers captain Mark O’Neill behind play during a match at Leichhardt Oval.
Williams claimed at the time that he was suffering from post-traumatic amnesia, but his side of the story was rejected by the tribunal. Williams, for his part, would never play in the NRL again.
Three years later, in a match between the Gold Coast Titans and South Sydney Rabbitohs, Bunnies forward Jaiman Lowe was sent off with five minutes remaining for lashing out at Titan Brett Delaney, whom Lowe claimed he grabbed his groin in a tackle just seconds earlier.
The Rabbitohs were in good position to level the scores but Lowe’s blow-up, dismissal and subsequent penalty to the Titans saw the fledgling club escape with a 25-18 victory.
And of course, there have been numerous on-field brawls in State of Origin, none other than Brett White’s deck-out of Steve Price which sparked a massive brawl in the final game of the 2009 series.
But Ben Flower’s lash-out at Lance Hohaia must surely rank as one of the most vicious on-field incidents in universal rugby league history. A tribunal hearing will take place sometime this week where Flower will learn his punishment for the cruel double knock-out. How long do you think he should be suspended for?
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