England v Wales

[G.K]

He has a point, Marler will be cited now it's been on TV and social media.

[Big Dai]

But there is mitigation, surely? It was low on the tackle. But he was dealing with a much taller player. There was contact, but no force. No more than a friendly tug?

[sam16111986]

But there is mitigation, surely? It was low on the tackle. But he was dealing with a much taller player. There was contact, but no force. No more than a friendly tug?

I have no idea over mitigation anymore. It seems to count sometimes and sometimes not. For me it was right bicep on shoulder as initial contract and then clattering North thereafter not as the TMO said shoulder to head. Initial contact would have had a bearing in the decision. Tackles like this are very common but I doubt we'll see another one pulled up anytime soon. Typical luck, Manu will likely get a ban lasting several weeks, maybe we'll have him back for Castres but I doubt it.

[Jimmy Skitz]

But there is mitigation, surely? It was low on the tackle. But he was dealing with a much taller player. There was contact, but no force. No more than a friendly tug?

he's going to have to face the ultimate judge in this situation, Mrs Marler, he will be suitable punished no doubt

[Jacko27]

I think you may be at cross purposes!

[ashleytiger]

I think you may be at cross purposes!

Was funny to read though

[Tiglon]

Caucasian player tackles Pacific Island player in the head - penalty only.

Pacific Island player tackles Caucasian player in the head - red card.

Referee is from a country with a history of racism against Pacific Islanders and Maori.

Is the inconsistency down to the stereotype that Pacific Islanders are all aggressive and violent, therefore Manu's tackle must have been much worse? Perhaps a bit of subconscious bias from the Kiwi referee...

[OakhamTiger32]

There has been no consistency the whole tournament.
Parkes ran headfirst into Tuilagi’s head with no regard for player safety so why wasn’t that a red? Irish players flying into rucks hitting heads yet no red cards?

Looked to me like contact was on the shoulder. Plus North is being tackled at the same time. What else is a player to do in a split second? Should have been a yellow.

Spot on. I definitely thought the Parkes one should have been looked at again and yellow for Manu due to numerous mitigating factors.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Marler is just brainless & has form, it really is time he was removed from the England side, his antics like a lot of the England teams & it must be said others in the Northern hemisphere, wouldn't of lasted long before the time of multiple tv cameras.
Can you imagine what would of happened if you had tweak any of the Moriarty generation above the present incumbent of the red jersey or either Deano or Dean Ryan?

[VernonAtrium]

There was no malice in Manu's hit, but he's lucky George saw him coming and got his head out of the way. Otherwise, coming at full-tilt as he was and shoulder-down as the impact point, he could've broken George's neck. Slade had got the tackle, anyway. There was no offload-able support.

Manu was being the proverbial sledgehammer to crack the nut, but without all the cameras and replays he wouldn't have been sent off, I think. I was more annoyed by Farrell being the wind-up merchant earlier in the game, to be honest. Like American football, let's just bring Farrell on for place kicking. That's all he's good at. Genge is a far better stirrer, if that's what you want.

[RichieB]

There was no malice in Manu's hit, but he's lucky George saw him coming and got his head out of the way. Otherwise, coming at full-tilt as he was and shoulder-down as the impact point, he could've broken George's neck. Slade had got the tackle, anyway. There was no offload-able support.

Manu was being the proverbial sledgehammer to crack the nut, but without all the cameras and replays he wouldn't have been sent off, I think. I was more annoyed by Farrell being the wind-up merchant earlier in the game, to be honest. Like American football, let's just bring Farrell on for place kicking. That's all he's good at. Genge is a far better stirrer, if that's what you want.

I agree. Of all of the penalties conceded, the single most idiotic one was Farrell slapping North's chest towards the beginning of the game. England had just successfully defended a Wales attack. Farrell gives away 3 points for absolutely no good reason. If it wasn't for his goal kicking and his work off the field for Duchenne, I'd really think very little of him.

[Tiger_in_Birmingham]

Manu's was a red all day long under the current guidelines - first point of contact was the head and with force. Mind you so was Parkes' on Manu that got nothing because he bounced up and play carried on after just the penalty.

Ken Owens' would probably have been a yellow had England not scored as it was always high but not a lot of force.

Marler will get in trouble - whilst he wasn't bag snatching he'll be punished under the same law which is 12-240 weeks I believe; will probably be right at the lower end but not have any mitigating circumstances

Someone (Sinckler? Curry?) got flipped being cleared out of a ruck and taken all the way over onto his back - that'll get cited.

Dillon Lewis' chop tackle on Sinckler was no handed but he ended up hurting himself so it was ignored.

Tomos Williams might get in trouble for a headbutt, albeit a weak one, on Itoje.

Surprised Farrel got in trouble for his palm strike/slap. I thought CJ Stander showed that an open handed strike was allowed


All in all I thought O'Keefe wasn't too bad with his real time decisions, it was the TMO who let him down by failing to support him for anything other than the Manu tackle

[strawclearer]

- and, more importantly.....

What's the best / easiest / quickest way of getting from St Pancras to the ground?

In the past, I've always gone down by coach rather than train so - any advice much appreciated!

You've asked three different questions there, strawclearer. The "best" in my opinion (although I'm Loughborough born and bred I've lived in suburban London for 40+ years and am increasingly allergic to long queues and overcrowded trains) is slightly unorthodox. Take Piccadilly line from Kings Cross to Hounslow East. You'll probably get a seat and you can read your paper & contemplate our forthcoming dismantling of the Welsh team. From HE it's a 15 minute stroll to the Royal Oak, Worton Road. Time to enjoy a pint or two of London Pride. It's a rugby pub, crowded but not unbearably so. The pub is bang opposite the path through the water purification works that is 10/15 minutes walk to Twickenham North Stand. I watch on TV now but for 20 years we never missed a home international and I found this by far the best route as it avoids queues and uncomfortably crowded trains and uncomfortably crowded Twickenham pubs. If you think you might be interested in this modus operandi check out tube details on TFL journey planner.

I’ve sunk many a pre-match pint in the Royal Oak so that’s pretty sound advice from my point of view!

It was, indeed, excellent advice. Easy journey, great pub with very good company and London Pride at its best!

Thanks for the advice guys!

[sam16111986]

All in all I thought O'Keefe wasn't too bad with his real time decisions, it was the TMO who let him down by failing to support him for anything other than the Manu tackle

I thought O'Keefe had a pretty decent game with the whistle. The TMO was useless. He made no intervention for the Marler but squeeze, the Biggar trip on Farrell, the no arms tackle by Lewis right in front of the Wales line and Parkes head on head tackle on Manu. Under the current guidelines the head on head tackle by Parkes was a red card as was the Marler incident. TMO has a record for ineptitude if I remember correctly.

[sam16111986]

https://mobile.twitter.com/OptaJonny/st ... 2F51784107

Like how they managed to find a picture of Manu attempting to wrap the arms in the tackle as they bring up his red card.