Well hopefully the fact were all debating it here also means other people in places of authority (within the IRB) are also debating it. Afterall, they should be looking a these instances of unpunished (or ill punished) indicipline and shaking their heads at the respective Unions. It's about time all acts of foul play are punished with a sensible ban period (or amount of games). Every player in the professional game should be given similar punishments for similar acts of foul play. In this day and age, with the sheer amount of camera angles available, most incidents are picked up, meaning acurate accounts can normally be figured out.
I agree that previous record must be taking into acount with the majority of offenses, however with something as serious as this, I'm not so sure. Afterall, a punch or a headbut etc. can only cause so much damage, a broken nose etc. But stamping on someones face, or attempting to gouge someones eyes could end in career threatening injuries that are not justified in any shape or form, no matter how angel like a player's been in the past. Possibly in this instance a reduction of a week or two is justified, due to others pointing out that he's never even seen a yellow before and the intent could not be 100% proven. I suppose in some ways that's what he got, due to the weird rules that the maximum was an 8 week ban due to it being an internal hearing, odd rules...
Unfortunately, more and more of this is creeping into the game, and unless were careful and punish the ones responsible, our loved game is going to turn into a free for all on the pitch. Injuries are a big part of the sport, due to it's high impact nature. The occasional unintentional high tackle is going to happen, scrums will collapse (although this is also happening too much), and people will brake bones and tear musles. Therefore there's already enough possibility of a players career ending early due to a mistake or an unfortunate injury. We don't need intentional dirty play in the game.[/b]
