Tautai

[Wigan_forever1985]

This is the Tautai challenge

https://youtu.be/fqL6jWMUnh0?t=3m20s

I'm all in favour of serious foul play being taken out of the game but I'm still struggling a bit to see how this qualifies. We all know what real foul play is (take a bow Brett Ferres) and I'm not excusing nasty stuff but considering the ref didn't even think it worth a word, let alone a penalty, I'm a bit taken aback.

When i watched it the first time it looked completely innocent the more i watch it the more dangerous it looks. he sort of jumps and pulls all off his weight down on gigots standing leg its not like taking the legs from the side its almost trying to buckle his legs from the top down

[markill]

In think it is the kind of incident that refs are unlikely to pick up on in the flow of the game. It might be hard for the ref to have a complete view that means he can see Tautai is fully off the floor and has therefore lost an element of control and is forcing pressure on the attackers joints as a result. I'm inclined to agree with Cherry, this looks more dangerous the more you look at it. This is why we have the process as we do, it's easy to miss dangerous things in games if they don't cause an obvious serious injury at the time, unfortunately.

Although, confidence in the people executing the process is then challenged for me when I read the Tony Clubb 'late tackle' write up, as they have Albert already having kicked the ball, whereas when I did a freeze frame on Wigan TV it was pretty clear to me that Clubb reached him before the ball was kicked.

[fozzieskem]

Greg Bird got a 4 game ban for his tackle on Hamlin and Tautai's looked worse than that one, but both are effectively for the same thing.

Bird's looked innocuous at the time, but seeing it again it's the exact same issue - he's facing Hamlin front on and grappling him around his shoulder/upper back, he then goes off his feet. You can see Hamlin struggling and holding his lower leg immediately after the tackle.

There seems to be a tendency among RL fans to dismiss every new interpretation of misconduct or foul play as evidence the game is going soft (although this interpretation isn't actually that new). For some a foul is a high tackle and nothing else. The fact is that there's a responsibility to protect players and if there are techniques being used that pose a serious risk of injury they have to be outlawed to protect players.

Tackles like Tautai's are rightly being punished because it carries an unacceptable risk of injury and it can easily be avoided without having a significant impact on how players tackle. Nobody should really be teaching players to go off their feet when tackling and it won't negatively impact on players if they are prohibited from doing it. So it's common sense to outlaw tackles where, by going off their feet, players put all of their body weight and therefore undue pressure on joints. The ball carrier has no way of protecting themself.

Hav to agree,Birds looks bad but as you say Tautai's looked for worse I think he will be having a holiday very soon

[moto748]

Just on the Tony Clubb challenge on the kicker: I thought at the time, James Maloney and Shaun Johnson get half a dozen like that or worse every week, and nobody bats an eyelid.

[doc]

Confirmed 4 match ban.

http://www.rugby-league.com/article/531 ... ghts-cases