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'Nothing good happens after 2 o'clock' - Brit cleared of assault on rugby player speaks out
By Ian Cameron
A British man cleared of an assault on Australian Sevens player James Stannard has spoken following his court appearance.
Stannard was due to lead his country in the upcoming Gold Coast Games on home soil, but was hospitalised after allegedly being punched in the head in the Sydney suburbs in the early hours of the morning in March.
The accused - Sam Oliver - claimed it was Stannard who threw the first punch after calling the Oliver a 'pommy c***'. The defence claimed that Oliver (23) - who received a black eye - was simply defending himself.
Stannard teammates tackled the accused to the ground following the incident on the night in question, but their recollection of events were described as 'blurred'.
The judge in the case - magistrate Richard Funston - found that the prosecution's case had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Alcohol was said to be a contributing factor in the case.
Cult-figure Stannard became the leading Australian points scorer in World Series history when he overtook Peter Miller’s tally of 631 in Wellington in January 2016. Stannard was a member of the Australian side that won a Silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India and captained the side that won the London Sevens at Twickenham in the same year.
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Latest Comments
Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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