Wallabies' Swinton banned for four weeks

if you mean the type trying to take out the opposition player. not much at all off the top of my head

The reality is most concussions happen from a standard low tackle where the tackler gets his head in the wrong position and makes contact with a hip or elbow....think back to the Ned Hanigan linebreak...The IRB and associations are hardly taking it seriously or we would see the mouth guard enforced and headgear. This HIA and the high tackle penalty are purely legal talk so that when they are eventually sued they can show that they have taken reasonable steps by starting the penality at the highest end and that they are taking direction from a medical professional (attempted outsourcing of risk). Don't kid yourself, this was all designed in a room of the IRB board and lawyers...

I think this is a good thing Swinton received the ban. That hit looked recklessly dangerous and we shouldn’t be encouraging more Bakkies-style thugs. If he can’t channel his Agro legally he shouldn’t be out there

I hear what you're saying EFF but the onus isn't on the game to teach individuals their skills. His coaching group needs to work with him and he needs to do a lot of practice himself. The case of Farrell is a lot to do with him getting away with it for years because he is an RFU golden boy. Now he has finally been deal with like any other player, let's see if he makes changes. If not, he is an idiot and his career window is narrowing. I suspect he'll make changes.

So with 30 suspensions per game the season would bottom out pretty quickly

Owen Farrell has been playing test rugby for years, his dad is an excellent coach but he still has not fixed the problem with his tackling. Up until recently he never needed to as he never had any repercussions

All the time. I count ed at least 5 unpunished head shots in this year's GF

Ask Ellery Hanley about that

I tended to be the victim. Not brave enough to face the consequences of dog acts

And, of course, physics will tell you that Whitelock did drop down. It's not possible to hit somebody 3" taller than you on the chin with your shoulder if he's not. Tiny differences between the two tackles really.

Mike past 5 years 44 players globally have had to retire prematurely on medical advice due to concussion issues.. And that’s only those playing in Top tier competitions and Internationally….it does not include stats for Clubs, social rugby and junior rugby as those not reliably available.. It also only includes those showing symptoms.. Not included are those who are still unsymptomatic and still playing.. … Unless The IRB and its associates take serious and meaningful measures, especially the enforcement of its own laws around player safety they risk big trouble going forward.. They already know that and as far as I can see are taking it very seriously.. .

Nor is there consistency in refereeing - red cads get missed. And quite possibly deliberately so. A lot of the commentary here is hilarious.

"But like it or not we can expect this to be the way forward in World Rugby" Can we? It will be interesting to see how much consistency there is in penalties.

:laughing:

Does he have a track record? A red that I think is over the top for both the tackles but such a long suspension as well...seems extreme if he does not have a track record.

How soon will we know?

If there is any justice Ofa will be exonerated

cheers

Bozza on the Back Page just made a good point, lawsuits are coming for CTE. Codes need to show what they are doing to protect their players. Union is going hard on this, either adapt or face the consequences.

I guess whitelock may have dropped into it more then. It’s not Wrights responsibility to be taller than he is. The tackler has to come down to his level. Wright didn’t vary his heigh much from his relatively squat jinking style where you are lowers when looking to step off both feet. He may not have been standing tall, but he did not drop into the tackle