Paul O'Connell kicks Kearney in the head

Michael Brial assaults Frank Bunce in 96

Tom Varndell sneaks in for great try

Opeti Fonua smashes Chris Masoe in 2010

Justin Marshall over advertising boards

Flanker gets away with sneaky slap

British & Irish Lions tour '97 vs Natal

Richard Kahui makes another good hit

Luke McAlister's 63m penalty kick

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Referees Keith Brown and Romain Poite get too close to the action

After Ireland's heavy loss to New Zealand last month some of the Irish fans groaned that the best tackle their team made all game was on referee Romain Poite. Here's a look at that moment, as well as one from Super Rugby last weekend.

Both referees in the video below were hit unexpectedly, and were probably lucky to not choke on their whistles. The sick side in all of us makes these type of moments enjoyable to watch though, so over the years we've featured them whenever they've happened. It's amusing, for some reason.

In the first of these two we've got Keith Brown taking a knock from big Sitaleki Timani. The Waratah stuck his shoulder into Brown, who ended up on the floor, not for the first time in his career either. A while back we posted a video of three referees tasting the dirt in one weekend, and Brown was one of them. On this occasion he dusted himself off and gave possesion back to the Waratahs.

In the second clip we've got everyone's favourite French referee, Romain Poite, taking a big knock from Ireland's Chris Henry during the 60-0 thrashing by the All Blacks. Poite was none too pleased at being smashed from behind, and made his thoughts known to Henry.

You can view more funny clips of referees being taken out in the related posts below the video

Posted at 3:09 pm | 12 comments

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Related Posts

Highlights of All Blacks vs Ireland - Third Test

Romain Poite enjoys the funny game, Murphy disagrees

Romain Poite and other refs take some big knocks

Three refs take a tumble as they get in on the action

Three refs taste the dirt in one weekend of rugby

Referee sandwiched between a prop and a hard place

Friday Funnies - League ref takes a tumble, twice.

Midweek Madness - Bok fan attacks ref in 2002

Posted in Big Hits & Dirty Play, Funnies

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Viewing 12 comments

Markley July 14, 2012 6:57 pm

What was the advantage for in the Ireland vs NZ game for? Was it just for hitting the ref? if so thats a complete over reaction, when on the back foot defenders need to do anything they can to get back to the posts and build the wall, all though if the irish-man was a bit more careful it could have been avoided, the ref wasn't very mindful of the space.

So anyway, can anyone answer - was the advantage because of being hit?

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Pretzel July 14, 2012 7:27 pm

At a guess, it loooooked, like there were hands on. Watch the AB scrum half, he puts the boot on something a few times, the referee appears to look and then gives advantage...

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Markley July 14, 2012 11:55 pm

Thats what I was thinking, the advantage was just given so late (nearly when the ball is out) so was just curious if it was something else

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Bowhay July 14, 2012 9:08 pm

brand new on this website, keep up the good work guys! love it

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Eggman July 15, 2012 11:11 am

Haha the sound he made when he got hit was pretty funny.. Fair play though that he got up again. Hit in the back when not expecting it from a guy who's about 1000 kilos heavier must have hurt a bit, even if it wasn't full speed ;)

I remember the kiwi comentators saying that he wanted revenge when he gave the penalty advantage, though let's give him the benefit of the doubt..

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rugby08 July 15, 2012 12:13 pm

It looked like Henry did see him

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UlsterJoey July 15, 2012 4:00 pm

Actually a big fan of Henry, he's done great work at Ulster and like Best and Fitzpatrick has gone relatively unnoticed on the national front (Best is only starting since the RWC2011 because Fla' retired). Don't really see the point in flying 30 guys to NZ to just trot out the same 15 over and over again, sends the wrong message to young players and form players.

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Alex July 15, 2012 6:56 pm

Does anyone else feel the Irish player could have easily avoided the ref there? I think so and understand the refs frustration there. Still it's heat of the moment stuff so hard to judge.

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Pretzel July 15, 2012 7:13 pm

I sort of agree, but then again, you have to watch out for scrum halves (or any other player for that matter) that run AT the referee or between the referee and defenders at breakdowns by the try line. It's a common occurrence and I suppose consider the referee as a post, you could theoretically use a post to your advantage as you are "protected" on one side. So from an Irish players point of view he could just as easily have made a "try saving collision" by knocking Poite into a charging Kiwi who got quick ball... (therefore stopping play I think)... As it was he just flattened a referee and probably made the referee less forgiving towards the Irish side... (not that any forgiveness would have helped anyway...)

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Jon July 16, 2012 2:47 am

Poite was in the way, the Irish player was just desperately trying to fill the gap at the edge of the ruck there. Players will often snipe through that gap, particularly if the ref's there. It's a common tactic to take advantage of the ref getting in the way and running through that gap.
Poite is a terrible ref anyway.

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Colombes July 16, 2012 1:10 pm

i won't feed the usual and pathetic ""let's bash some french player or ref" as poite is recognized by players as one of the best ref of the moment.

concerning the action, it's 50/50, the irish wants to contest the ball but could have avoided the hit in the back. the penalty was for "hands in the ruck" not a revenge ;)

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