Wallabies five-eighth Quade Cooper banned for 2 weeks after dangerous tackle

[GIGS20]

You guys really need to take a look at yourself. A spear tackle is the worst thing on a rugby field and should be instant yellow if it was deliberate or not - if it looked bad or not.

I don't think I'm wearing glasses which are TOO yellow (but probably not the best guy to judge either)
without reviewing the video, my recollection from the night was that Quade picked up the player and dropped him on his head, definately illegal, definately a card, not so sure about suspension, because I would call it reckless rather than deliberate. If you want to suspend him OK, I won't argue, it might be a little soft in some eyes, but cleaning the game up and all that!
Fourie, however picked Brown up and drove him down.......look I don't think there was any more intent than with Quade, seriously there were four or five tackles which O'Connor laid on last night which, but for a split second of good timing or luck would have been exactly the same, but nobody landed on their neck. Fourie, like Quade deserved a penalty, deserved a card, but it all comes down to consistency, I call Fourie's tackle the worse (by an admittedly small margin) and think that consistency requires at LEAST the same penalty as Quade.

It'll be interesting to see the outcome of the appeal, and whether SA will follow suit!

[palitu]

fouries was a little bit more verticle, but no driving... quades, more horizontal, but he drove him down...

[GIGS20]

I'd have to have another look.

[Hoolly Doolly]

It was a KIWI touch judge that made the calls in the first place!!!!
CONSPIRACY!!!!

[travelling_gerry]

Quade Cooper's penalty exposes system

* Wayne Smith
* From: The Australian
* July 26, 2010 12:00AM



THE Wallabies are certain to appeal Quade Cooper's two-week suspension as serious flaws began to emerge in SANZAR's judicial system.

The exclamation "Two weeks" from teammates Will Genia and Matt Giteau, when they learned of the sentence handed down by SANZAR judicial officer Bruce Squire QC, summed up the Wallabies' dismay that they would have to play the All Blacks in Melbourne and Christchurch over the next two Saturdays without their unpredictable playmaker.

New Zealander Squire put Cooper out of both Bledisloe Tests after finding him guilty of a dangerous tackle when he upended Springboks counterpart Morne Steyn in the 54th minute of Saturday's Test at Suncorp Stadium.

In doing so, he compared Cooper's offence to the spear tackle that earned Bok winger Jean de Villiers a two-week suspension following the recent Tri-Nations Test in Wellington.

"This is consistent application in terms of like penalties for like offences," Squires said in a SANZAR press release yesterday.

But while the offences may have been similar, the penalties were not, at least in Australian eyes.

De Villiers only missed one Tri-Nations Test, in Brisbane, while South African teammate Jaque Fourie, who also was found guilty of a similar breach of law 10.4 (j) yesterday for a spear tackle on Richard Brown, also will miss only the August 21 Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks.

While Fourie might have been suspended for four weeks - with Squire taking into account that he had been found guilty of a similar offence last year - it is ludicrous that his penalty supposedly also covers two Currie Cup matches.

In all probability, Fourie would have missed both matches anyway to rest for the second half of the Springboks' Tri-Nations campaign.

Either way, the reality is that Cooper has been hit with a two-Test ban while the South Africans, because of the scheduling of their Tri-Nations fixtures, will sit out only one, which seems a perverse outcome given SANZAR's stated commitment to achieving consistency in the judiciary room.

Yet perhaps the more serious question is whether Cooper and Fourie should even have been cited in the first instance by citing commissioner Steve Hinds, of New Zealand.

Both on-field incidents were reported to Irish referee George Clancy by assistant referee Keith Brown, of New Zealand, who, when asked by Clancy for his recommendation, replied: "Yellow card."

Under SANZAR guidelines, however, a player should only be cited if in the opinion of the citing commissioner the offence has reached the threshold of a red-card - that is, a send-off - offence.

Both incidents in the Brisbane Test were seen by the assistant referee and reported as nothing more than yellow-card offences, which means either the match officials got their rulings wrong or Hinds did.

IRB referees boss Paddy O'Brien could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Certainly, it makes sense for the Wallabies to appeal against Cooper's suspension. The only reason not to would be the fear that his penalty would be increased but the Wallabies have a three-week break between the August 7 Test in Christchurch and their next Tri-Nations fixture, against the Boks in Pretoria on August 28.

Even if his suspension was increased, the only impact would be that he would miss a Brisbane Premier Rugby fixture for Souths - again, a match he most likely would not have played anyway.

The judiciary outcome cast a pall over what was otherwise a happy, if still restrained, Wallabies camp yesterday.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225896771563

[Sheikh]

Nothing on Rabbit's tackle on Matfield(?) about the same time?

------------------------------------------------

OK, mentioned on another thread.

[mudskipper]

JO'Cs tackle on Matfield was a pearler...

However Cooper's tackle was lifting and constituted a dangerous tackle. Unfortunately unpredictability is what you get with Quade Cooper, be it good or bad or in the bin. It was unnecessary what was notable about both the Cooper and Fourie tackles is neither tackled man had the ball and had off loaded.

A ban is disappointing but it is important that the game be seen safely refereed at the highest level as it is an example to every kid and their rugby mum watching.