NH club rugby
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So the first player (Jourdain, 23) got red - as I understand it from the media - for punching Taumalolo. Taumalolo got red for lifting Jourdain in the scrum (by lifting his leg). And Hunt, did he punch someone as well?
I find it a bit strange how the ref and AR just watch it unfold and don't do anything. In NZ (and Oz), the refs blow their whistle (twice) and tell them to stop. Not that that always helps, and sometimes they repeat it several times, but these Frenchies don't do anything at all.
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In more interesting NH club rugby news: the French Top 14 season is now 4 weeks underway and there have been some surprising results.
La Rochelle, the club of Victor Vito and Jason Eaton has won 3 and drew 1 of their 4 games. This sees them top the table, but they have only played one of the stronger teams - Clermont. That was the draw at home.
Clermont comes 2nd, with two wins and two draws. One of their wins was away against Nemani Nadolo's Montpellier, and the two draws were also in away games, including a game against 2015 Champions Stade Francais. On Sunday, they smashed Racing 92 (without Carter who has taken up sailing) 47-10. Hosea Gear and Isaia Toeava haven't played yet this season because of injury (knee and shoulder, respectively).
Stade Francais and Toulon come next on equal points, but Toulon already having lost two games, against lowly Bayonne (promoted from Pro D2; NZ players incl Tanerau Latimer, Adam Whitelock, Thom Donelly) and -at home- against Brive, and two away wins against Pau and Toulouse. Ma'a Nonu started for Toulon in all four games.
Racing 92 (Dan Carter, Chris Masoe, Ben Tameifuna, Casey Laulala) sits 8th on the table, also with two wins and two losses, but with fewer bonus points.
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He's been given 13 weeks on first biting charge. Second charge was dismissed.
Some media saying he might appeal but that's conjecture for the moment.
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@Siam said in NH club rugby:
Jaysus he seems to get into a lot of wierd trouble
Unlucky or perhaps a bit not right in the head (maybe just rugby gods karma for those ridiculous dives)
He combines being very stroppy & excited on the pitch, with being a little bitch. So he gets done for cheap shots, eye gouges, biting, talking back to players / refs etc.
I've given up on my number 1 wish in rugby which was him swan diving in to win the world cup & dropping the fucking ball mid dive.
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The video was not really conclusive and you could well ask questions of Waller with his hand and arm all over Ashton's face but to me it just looks like a rugby incident and nothing much to be concerned about. Having said that though, Ashton's growing rep as a tool cannot help him in circumstances like these and he is unlikely to get much sympathy. FWIW I thought the eye gouge last year was questionable too.
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@Catogrande If that was the case, you'd think the other player would say it didn't happen?
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@Bones
Not sure if you mean the biting or the gouging incident? Assuming it is the former, you would need to add context - the match itself was pretty brutal and there was a lot of niggle. Both sides were up for it and there was plenty of bitch play going on. In the context of the match it wouldn't surprise me that someone had got bitten or that someone could claim a bite when another time they might just wash it off as something and nothing. But yeah I would like to assume that if a guy had claimed he'd been bitten that there was some sound reason for doing so..During the game Waller (not alone by any means) was playing the tool card at every opportunity and got yellowed himself for a stupid off the ball dump tackle at one point. In itself the tackle was not much of anything other than being plain stupid. Does that have a bearing on his claims? Who knows but the video posted below doesn't show much to me - certainly not 13 weeks.
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@Catogrande It's a dirty filthy bite! 13 weeks is pretty sweet.
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you cant really accidentally bite someone, and having been bitten, you know you've been bitten, so I don't think you would confuse some other niggle with a bite.
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The rumour on PR from someone who likes to think he is in the know is that Ashton is going to head back to league after the suspension.
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@Smudge said in NH club rugby:
The rumour on PR from someone who likes to think he is in the know is that Ashton is going to head back to league after the suspension.
That's already been reported in media before today - e.g. Guardian newspaper
"“What I am hearing is absolutely not the Chris Ashton I know,” said the club’s chairman, Nigel Wray. “I very much hope that Chris is not forced out of English rugby because he is a very well-liked and respected member of our family, one of the hardest workers in the game. I am not a lawyer, but if this were a legal matter the case would not come to court.”
The implication was that the 29-year old Ashton would, once his suspension was completed, look at finishing his career in France or return to rugby league having left Wigan for Northampton in 2007."
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Don't these guys have lawyers at their trials, and they are treated as legal matters?
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Mourad Boudjellal contemplates selling Toulon
Boudjellal contemplates selling Toulon
Mourad Boudjellal is contemplating selling his club Toulon saying he wants "to live another life".
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God I had the miss fortune of watching the Toulon v Clermont and the Toulouse v SFP games. For teams with high profile stars in them the passing, ball control, and running lines were of the standard to would expect to see at amateur level, because most of the team were on the piss the night before.
