nick williams must be banned for 2 years.

[The Jones Boy]

Williams makes contact with his upper forearm into the opponents head.
It's a dirty cheap shot and it's exacerbated because he swings his arm intentionally and throws his hip into it.
I hope the other lads alright.
6 weeks straight off.

 

[lucky number 7]

Shouldn't go in with that rising arm ever. Always makes any incident look twice as bad.
If it wasn't for his arm coming up through the collision that's an incident that occurs 100 times a game. But whatever possesses Williams and from what I've seen a lot of the big boys down south they just love swinging that ****ing arm.

And all it ever does is get them in trouble.

 

[JayBlaze]

Not even a penalty, play on.

 

[nickdnz]

Just watched the incident. Looks pretty innocuous to me...

 

[MPress01]

Firstly, i will put my stall out before commenting on the incident -

I am an Ulster Fan, but not a Nick William's fan. I sigh every time he plays, every time he does those stupid one-hand carries, and every time he does something ridiculously stupid that costs us points.

With regards to the incident, i was at the match and whilst I didn't see anything wrong at the time (via the screens) upon watching its obvious that contact was made. It was reckless, nothing more nothing less. I think the 8 week ban is justified and pretty fair (and fills me with relief that I wont have to watch him knock the ball on whilst attempting to Sonny Bill it to supporting players).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Not even a penalty, play on.

Just watched the incident. Looks pretty innocuous to me...

Christ, TRF is toughening up!!!

It it was pretty much a shoulder charge, Patchell being too low to connect with the shoulder obviously, but there was no attempt to play rugby whatsoever. It's the same as tackling without wrapping the arms except the Patchell is in a much more vulnerable position.

 

[Peat]

Christ, TRF is toughening up!!!

It it was pretty much a shoulder charge, Patchell being too low to connect with the shoulder obviously, but there was no attempt to play rugby whatsoever. It's the same as tackling without wrapping the arms except the Patchell is in a much more vulnerable position.

Except its not a tackle, it's a ruck clear-out, and the shoulder charge is de rigueur in those situations. If Patchell hadn't been so badly hurt, no one would have ever mentioned this again.

I mean, yeah, if you accept its a deliberate swinging arm to the neck, then its blatant and really should have been a red and a good long ban - and I reckon it was deliberate and have no qualms with the ban - but elsewise, it's just poor ruck clearance and bad luck. A shoulder charge into a ruck is playing rugby. And I don't think you can prove its deliberate tbh, although only Odin knows why he was entering a ruck that high if it wasn't.

Tbh, my main feeling still is complete incredulity that for all the really weird/strict red cards Ulster have received recently, this is the one we somehow got lucky and escaped on. The current coaching staff don't take discipline nearly seriously enough at all and that's hurting us badly.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

A shoulder charge to a ruck is illegal surely? It's horribly officiated but I'm sure I've seen penalties given for them. It's an area that needs to be tightened up on, I'd say a significant percent of concussions are due to illegal clear outs.

 

[Peat]

A shoulder charge to a ruck is illegal surely? It's horribly officiated but I'm sure I've seen penalties given for them. It's an area that needs to be tightened up on, I'd say a significant percent of concussions are due to illegal clear outs.

Illegal by the laws but de facto 99.9pc legal.

 

[psychic duck]

One thing I would like to add is to spare a thought for Rhys Patchell. This is his third lay off through injury this season, he's injured his hamstring, his knee and now this is a truly terrible concussion he's suffered. He's now in hospital in Cardiff and reportedly suffering from a memory blank and can't remember flying out to Belfast.

 

[Bluemoon]

Except its not a tackle, it's a ruck clear-out, and the shoulder charge is de rigueur in those situations. If Patchell hadn't been so badly hurt, no one would have ever mentioned this again.

I mean, yeah, if you accept its a deliberate swinging arm to the neck, then its blatant and really should have been a red and a good long ban - and I reckon it was deliberate and have no qualms with the ban - but elsewise, it's just poor ruck clearance and bad luck. A shoulder charge into a ruck is playing rugby. And I don't think you can prove its deliberate tbh, although only Odin knows why he was entering a ruck that high if it wasn't.

I understand your sentiment Peat, but at the same time let's take deliberate out of the equation at the game as we all know theres no argument to be made with intent.

He went in with the upper body illegally, caught a man on the head and knocked him out. It's a red card. The George North incident has added a bit of spice to this debate because it could be argued that Hughes didn't mean to boot him in the head, but he did and therefore it's a red card.

Interestingly, in both cases intention was considered during the hearing to decide the subsequent ban.

 

[lucky number 7]

A shoulder charge to a ruck is illegal surely? It's horribly officiated but I'm sure I've seen penalties given for them. It's an area that needs to be tightened up on, I'd say a significant percent of concussions are due to illegal clear outs.

A shoulder charge or where the individual is on a downwards trajectory before contact and subsequently flies of their feet is yes. But what Nick Williams did was essentially just rucking. Sadly Patchells face got in the way and Williams caught him there. Again lads rampage into 99% of rucks like that and nothing happens. Something did this time sadly and the true malice of the collision in my opinion is completely exacerbated by the slight swinging arm.

 

[austingtir]

What a nothing thread. Sure it was most likely a red card... .BUT carying on like the player deserved 2 years on the sideline is just totally retarded!!!


A couple of weeks max would be fair. Its debatable weather there was even any real malice in that. I was expecting to see something totally off the ball for someone thinknig they should get 2 years.


Man some people on this forum are ridiculous.

 

[nickdnz]

A shoulder charge or where the individual is on a downwards trajectory before contact and subsequently flies of their feet is yes. But what Nick Williams did was essentially just rucking. Sadly Patchells face got in the way and Williams caught him there. Again lads rampage into 99% of rucks like that and nothing happens. Something did this time sadly and the true malice of the collision in my opinion is completely exacerbated by the slight swinging arm.

Yep. To me it looked like what he did was enter a ruck too high (which is often what big guys do as they don't like getting too low), and use his arm - which to me looked more like his bicep than shoulder - to try and push a player out of the ruck by using his size advantage to push him up. The swinging of the arm just looked it's where the arm had momentum when it broke contact with Patchell, rather than an attempt to clubber him. I understand the frustration and I feeling very sorry for Patchell, but for me it was just a lazy clear out, and something went wrong. Players make plenty of those a game - and because this was one of the freak ones that went wrong I wouldn't make an example of the player.

But that's just my reading of the situation. I didn't see any malice in it, just lazy technique.

 

[Shaggy]

One thing I would like to add is to spare a thought for Rhys Patchell. This is his third lay off through injury this season, he's injured his hamstring, his knee and now this is a truly terrible concussion he's suffered. He's now in hospital in Cardiff and reportedly suffering from a memory blank and can't remember flying out to Belfast.

Sometimes I feel a little frustrated that the injured player can often be out of the game for longer than the perpetrator, but, having said that, if it's unintentional (not saying this is/was), you can probably feel for the player causing the injury as well (particularly if it wasn't reckless) I guess we also have to factor in, if the player is incurring injuries regularly, ie, Who really is culpable for players incurring repeat concussions

 

[MotherRucker1]

Illegal by the laws but de facto 99.9pc legal.

Sure, once upon a time.

But they're even cracking down on that now. Hika Elliot did the other day what the Franks brothers have been doing for years and he was red carded in regards to shoulder charge into the ruck. Clearly a decision and a message has been sent out.

 

[smartcooky]

What a nothing thread. Sure it was most likely a red card... .BUT carying on like the player deserved 2 years on the sideline is just totally retarded!!!


A couple of weeks max would be fair. Its debatable weather there was even any real malice in that. I was expecting to see something totally off the ball for someone thinknig they should get 2 years.


Man some people on this forum are ridiculous.

He got eight weeks, so that is his season over

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...williams-found-guilty-of-striking-banned.html


[TEXTAREA]"Williams appeared before a PRO12 Rugby Disciplinary Committee hearing today which found that the incident was at the top end of the World Rugby sanctions for this type of offence.
However a statement from the committee read: "In the absence of any aggravating factors and in light of several mitigating factors, including the player's exemplary previous playing record, the Disciplinary Committee applied an eight-week reduction from the entry point and suspended the player from playing for eight weeks."
"Taking into account the matches remaining this season, and two warm up matches scheduled for the start of next season, Williams is free to resume playing from Monday, 1 September 2015 and has the right of appeal."[/TEXTAREA]

 

[Perthshire]

Love the way the referee gets the white O/C to call for the offending player so he can administer the Y/C

 

[austingtir]

He got eight weeks, so that is his season over

[TEXTAREA]"Williams appeared before a PRO12 Rugby Disciplinary Committee hearing today which found that the incident was at the top end of the World Rugby sanctions for this type of offence.
However a statement from the committee read: "In the absence of any aggravating factors and in light of several mitigating factors, including the player's exemplary previous playing record, the Disciplinary Committee applied an eight-week reduction from the entry point and suspended the player from playing for eight weeks."
"Taking into account the matches remaining this season, and two warm up matches scheduled for the start of next season, Williams is free to resume playing from Monday, 1 September 2015 and has the right of appeal."[/TEXTAREA]

And as you know I dont usually agree with these committees, judiciarys or the politically correct fanboys that infest this forum.

8 weeks for that is imo harsh. but thats the way the games going and I for one dont think its right. Mainly because yet again they are showing no CONSISTENCY in these rulings whatsoever.

If a player does that tonight in the Canes vs Stormers game I gaurantee you the judicial result wont be the same... probably because there wont be a player lying prone on the ground as in this case among other reasons.

On a side note in how the games developed over the last 20 years.... a full back would rarely be caught in a ruck in that position 20 years ago. Simply because backs never put a huge amount of time into competing for the ball. So you end up with a huge mismatch of body's clashing.... I think people should be thinking about this a bit more and the rules should be adjusted accordingly. With the modern game there are way to many backs thinking they are openside flankers getting around... but thats just how it is these days isnt it.

Its harsh on the game for big forwards like this to be put in this position even if it did involve a bit of stupidity on their part. I want to see big forwards hitting rucks with little regard for their own safety... when you have backs in there you have a problem for them doin this.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Think this is a case of the injury overruling the incident, like the North case.

He entered the maul illegally with a shoulder charge (still don't see how people say it's an elbow - other than when he lifts his arm after the contact). Happens every game, especially when theres a small back that a big forward can line up.
Deserves a ban due to it basically being a head high shoulder charge, but people moaning he didn't get long enough....nah, i don't see it.