Hartley gone again!

[exg922]

I'm not trying to defend Hartley, I agree he had to go. But those trying to say Matt Smith was justified in going down, why is this now an acceptable part of our game? Do you think Richie mccaw & his teammates would act in same way? As fans of game why dont we unite & try to stamp it out? Look how Habana went on to twitter to apologise for his dive after the negative reception he got when collecting his medal. No matter what shirt they are wearing, we should condone this behaviour

[exg922]

I dont believe that Smith dived, as is being alleged. I would like to see how others would react to a similar hit.

Actually when playing a game of rugby league for Birmingham university last year against Nottingham trent last year, I got elbowed on my nose accidentally when the attacker got up to play the ball. I didnt fall to ground in agony, I had a nose bleed & went off to get cleaned up before carrying on.

[Smudge]

What I find most embarrassing for Stains is the fact that they still employ Callum Clarke.
To anyone who loves and played the game, he is a dirty stain on the reputation of the club that will never be expunged as long as he is there.
IMO He should have been banned from the game for life.

[Ian Cant]

At the game yesterday at the end it all kicked off. First of all well done Saints as they deserved to win but the sending off helped them as until then the game was even with the Tigers' pack on top. Once Doyle sent Hartley off though he then pinged Tigers for tackles that weren't at all dangerous. An elbow to the face deserved red and I thought Parling was the 'diver' not Smith. I just think Tigers have got fed up with taking illegal hits with nothing done knowing if we retaliate, like Matera did at Quins away last season, we get pinged big time!
Great back play by Saints to win the game and they are by far the best team in the league. Congratulations to them.

[Sajerj]

I am afraid the dive by has no more part in the game than an elbow to the face. He is not hurt, and regains his feet almost immediately, probably when he realises what he has done.

Contrary to some posters view, he is not 'entitled' to go to ground just because he has been hit. It is simply an attempt to draw attention to the foul play. Very poor.

[jonlin]

Honestly its embarrassing firstly that players are diving (think back to Bryan Habana being booed when he collected his Heineken cup medal), and even worse when fans are trying to justify it. Do you think they do this in New Zealand?? They will be laughing at northern hemisphere teams!!

No matter who it was......the elbow to the face had some force behind it and was flush on the chin. I dont believe that Smith dived, as is being alleged. I would like to see how others would react to a similar hit.

The elbow is probably the hardest bone on the human body, when delivered with any strength of leverage it hurts and you will go down. It is also one of the hardest bones to damage, even Calum Clark of Northamton Saints had to use all his 17 stone to break someones elbow.

[G.K]

Maybe it was the shock of being elbowed by someone who is normally such a good sporting fellow that caused Smith to have to have a wee lie down?

[L Smith]

What I find most embarrassing for Stains is the fact that they still employ Callum Clarke.
To anyone who loves and played the game, he is a dirty stain on the reputation of the club that will never be expunged as long as he is there.
IMO He should have been banned from the game for life.

+24000!

[exg922]

What I find most embarrassing for Stains is the fact that they still employ Callum Clarke.
To anyone who loves and played the game, he is a dirty stain on the reputation of the club that will never be expunged as long as he is there.
IMO He should have been banned from the game for life.

This isnt about who's embarrassed by what, I'm just very suprised fans here think its acceptable to dive. To me, it Could be a slippery path towards games like el-classico in football, do we really want to see that?

As for Clark, he's had a very good disciplinary record since. I think its sad that some people can't move on, I can think of many things I could say about tigers history, as Im sure everyone here could about say saints.

[jonlin]

This isnt about who's embarrassed by what, I'm just very suprised fans here think its acceptable to dive. To me, it Could be a slippery path towards games like el-classico in football, do we really want to see that?

As for Clark, he's had a very good disciplinary record since. I think its sad that some people can't move on, I can think of many things I could say about t
igers history, as Im sure everyone here could about say saints.

You are the one that cannot move on, or you would not be on this forum. You are trying to defend Hartley for striking an opponent.

[sapajo]

What I find most embarrassing for Stains is the fact that they still employ Callum Clarke.
To anyone who loves and played the game, he is a dirty stain on the reputation of the club that will never be expunged as long as he is there.
IMO He should have been banned from the game for life.

This isnt about who's embarrassed by what, I'm just very suprised fans here think its acceptable to dive. To me, it Could be a slippery path towards games like el-classico in football, do we really want to see that?

As for Clark, he's had a very good disciplinary record since. I think its sad that some people can't move on, I can think of many things I could say about tigers history, as Im sure everyone here could about say saints.

If only more Saints supporters were so gracious in victory

[Tigermatt1980]

Would the saints fans be saying it wasn't a red card if a tigers player did that to a saints player?

[Qbec]

I'll repeat the point made earlier in this thread there was a game this season where a tigers player was punched & the remark by the ref at the time was "He didn't go down nor did he need treatment" & that was the reason given as to why no action was taken by him.

Also what I find really bad about this whole thing is the number of people who seem to focus on the victim as the bad guy & not the thug.

Get your heads out of your ar*e's & wake up what D. Hartley did was wrong & he got sent off end of.

Tigers as a team are not up to full strength nor are some up to match fitness yet we are not even at the half way point of the season yet.

[TomWeston]

I dont believe that Smith dived, as is being alleged. I would like to see how others would react to a similar hit.

Actually when playing a game of rugby league for Birmingham university last year against Nottingham trent last year, I got elbowed on my nose accidentally when the attacker got up to play the ball. I didnt fall to ground in agony, I had a nose bleed & went off to get cleaned up before carrying on.

You are a real hero, but the key word is 'accidentally'.

Tartley clearly looked up and decided to go for it. He's a hot-headed thug, pure and simple, and there is no excusing that.

[MrPartridge]

Surprised no one has done the comparison yet but always good to stick to the facts:

AP final 2013: DH sent off after 40 minutes. Thereafter Tigers 24 Saints 12.

Yesterday: DH sent off after 15 minutes. Thereafter Tigers 19 Saints 23.