Agree , I thought the same about the Singleton/Sironen , players are committed to a tackle and they cant change there motion in real time , the slowing down with the camera footage just makes things look a lot worse , if the kick was 0.5 seconds later and Batemen would have forced a knock on it would have been the tackle of the game. This is a physical game , things like this happen . Its no wonder this isnt an attractive game anymore we are training the rugby out of the players .

Tricky one for the disciplinary panel as any ban will now be served during the world cup.

There's a friendly game already arranged v Fiji so that will count as one of the games for any player banned.

I think this can be related to TRY decisions too.



How often do they look to see if a ball is grounded based on a blurred image? Real time often shows it more clearly.

Finucane got 2 games for a very similar tackle where he shot out the line and did the damage with a head clash. I dont think he will miss a GF because of it but the precedent is there

Bateman is awful for the type of money he's being paid, sooner he's off back to Aussieland the better

I thought the Welsby one was a cracking tackle too but I can see why people are complaining as similar have seen players sent off the field and given bans.

Bateman Grade D (3 to 5 matches)

Knowles 2 matches

Welsby fine, no ban to previous good behavior!!

Awful is very harsh, he’s one of the best second rowers in the league still. I just think after what he did in Oz and his wage expectations are sky high.

Can’t argue with any of those

It really annoys me that bans incurred at club level count at international level and vice versa. Football have it right on this one imo.

Probably why Saints are appealing Knowles ban, nothing to lose, if it gets increased it won't affect them