'Long ban' predicted after ugly targeting of young fly-half
A long ban has been predicted after the questionable targeting of Ospreys fly-half Jack Walsh in the United Rugby Championship match against the Dragons over the weekend.
Walsh, who had been playing exceptionally well, was repeatedly hit with late and cheap shots from several Dragons players throughout the game.
Despite the Dragons' best efforts to take down the young No.10, the Ospreys ultimately emerged victorious with an 18-37 derby win. However, the victory was overshadowed by the ugly conduct of the Dragons players towards Walsh.
Targeting the fly-half in rugby is nothing new but the treatment doled out to Walsh has left a sour taste in many mouths.
Dragons No.8 Ross Moriarty was given a yellow card in the 32nd minute for a late shoulder charge on Walsh. But the worst was yet to come, as centre Sio Tomkinson was red-carded only minutes into the second half for his vicious cheap shot on Walsh.
Commentators have expressed their outrage at the Dragons' behavior and are calling for strict action to be taken against the players involved. James Hook on Scrum V is predicting that Tomkinson, in particular, is facing a lengthy ban for his actions.
"Discipline, we spoke about it, that should have been a yellow card for Fairbrother, Ross Moriarty got yellow carded for that," said Hook. "Every one of these was on Jack Walsh. This one, this was a red card. Stone-cold red card.
"He's come from five, 10 metres Tomkinson and he's taken his head off. There's no qualms about that. He'll probably have a long ban for that as well."
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Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
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