andy1000 says...

Haven't spoken to anyone in NZ who doesn't think this was a red card offence. Similar to Grewcock at Eden Park a few years ago when he dropped his knee with no malice on someone at the back of the ruck i.e. didn't hurt the person but the act/intent itself is deserving of a red.

He deserves a ban for being an idiot more than anything. Ironically most AB fans won't miss him and looking forward to see who they call up when the ban is confirmed.

The ball came out fast after the rucking though ay!!!!

Posted 11:22 13th November 2012

paulynz says...

@philipjfry

Don't understand what you're saying or why. Move out of philijfryworld and let it go...

Posted 10:04 13th November 2012

rugby_rockstar says...

Okay bit tongue in cheek this but where's the newpapers with thomson wearing the hanabal lecture face masks? ...Or shall we just leave that sort of stuff to the New Zealand newspapers?

For the record I reckon Adam Thomson is a seriously good rugby forward. The sorta guy you need in the squad when you're taking on physical sides in their own back yard. He'd walk into the England back row. If we had a home grown englishman like him in south africa in June, things would have been alot closer. Throw Louis Deacon into the mix and all of a sudden you have something resembling a traditonally strong english forward pack. Talking around the subject, but the point is that he's quality and fullfils an important role in the All Black pack. As an England fan I hope he gets a three week ban! :)

Posted 09:31 13th November 2012

jamesliveinhope says...

I suspect that Hansen's reaction on camera tells you what intelligent New Zealanders think of the situation.

In defence of the guy, it looked like a stereotype forward play where the boot was going in, he then saw the head there but the brain was unable to get the stop message down quickly enough. It almost looked like the lack of heavy contact was Thomson trying to pull out of it.

Nevertheless, boot to head should have been red regardless of intent or outcome and the fact that it wasn't should result in a ban.

Posted 09:21 13th November 2012

Frank81 says...

Could everyone try and forget blind national loyalties for one second?! It was a red card offence, no matter what country he was from or which hemisphere he was playing in.

@StunTheMullet - it's hardly harsher in the NH, I remember the red cards doled out to Danny Grewcock in NZ! Foul play is foul play.

Posted 08:27 13th November 2012

porridge_time says...

Not sure if this is up there with Greyling's act of thuggery, Thomson was reckless and made contact with the head which is unacceptable and deserved to be banned for at least two weeks. In my opinion Greyling's was an intentional hit to a prone players head for which he should have received at least eight weeks.

Posted 07:38 13th November 2012

bigb6969 says...

This is nowhere near comparable to Greylings act, or even Willie Alberts vrs Ireland on the Saturday where he deliberately dropped his knee in Jonathan Sexton's back, and Sexton was hurt, he certainly felt it. No citing. Then again, if phillipfry thinks this is exactly like Greyling act, then is philipfry looking for Thompson getting the same punishment, a one match ban ?

I agree the act should be punished not the effect. If someone swings a big punch and missed it should be treated the same if it broke a jaw (but it isn't). Here we see the boot go on the head, but Strokash , the recipient of this 'stomp' said he did not realised he had been stomped, that is how hard it was, and not a case of an act missing but it was clearly connectedt was not a deliberate attack on the player, no intent, look at the replay and you will see that ruck just lurches forward as he puts his foot down, I even think it was totally accidental. Thompson reached in to try and get the ball, then stood up, and put his foot down just as the ruck moved forward. At worse it is up with Eben Etzebeth "head butt" in Australia, although that was intentional tho not intended to hurt anyway. It should be treated as reckless at worse and dealt the same as Etzebeth.

The other point that makes me think it was an accident was just before Thompson was pointing to the ball and saying something to the touch judge before , and this did happen in the open

This does not even come close to be an act thuggery, people are looking for a beat up after all the dirty play that has happened to McCaw and the All Blacks get followed by laughable punishments. Someone was also talking about a the time McCaw got kneed in the head saying he was lying over the ball, actually McCaw was in the maul on his feet, and the player had to raise his knee twice, this was total intent.

Posted 04:07 13th November 2012

kiwilad says...

There is no way of justifing his actions, and I hope he gets the book thrown at him.

Even back in the Dark ages when I was playing, the Head was sacred, Ruck legs, backs, whatever, but you leave the Head alone.

Sadly Adam has always had brain explosions, and this is just another.

Posted 01:00 13th November 2012

JamieTheProp says...

Rucking should still be part of the game (it would take away a vast amount of referee involvement) but this is why it isn't! Rucking to the head was never acceptable and still isn't - doesn't matter what the Scotland player was doing or how hard it was - should have been a red and should be banned for the rest of the tour and beyond!

Can't even claim it was a accidental - he looked straight at the player, pointed and then ran his studs over the players head! He's let himself down and the team - NZ are by far the best rugby nation in the world at the moment - they don't need to be resorting to those tactics!

Posted 00:35 13th November 2012

LeftRightOut says...

I think he deserves, and will get, a ban - I am predicting it will equate to more than one match which would be unfair given the benchmark set for Greyling and Etzbeth. If its more than two matches then that's an outrage considering what was given to Higginbotham for his double offence. All the more need for suspensions to be defined in matches, not weeks

@leebok - "Typical tactics..." really??? Sounds like typical cynicism to me

Posted 00:03 13th November 2012