A mass brawl broke out shortly before halftime in a fiery Grenoble vs Brive Top 14 match on Sunday. Starting in the front row after a scrum, it took little time for the backs to get involved, as well as replacement players and staff members on the sidelines.
Tongan prop Sona Taumalolo was in the heart of it as Brive prop Damien Jourdain took exception to being driven off his feet at the scrum, prompting him to have a go at Taumalolo.
It didn’t take long for everyone to get involved, as little pods broke off and whenever it seemed like it would stop, things fired up again. One player even got tossed over the advertising hoardings.
Nigel Hunt threw a number of punches, but he was not the only one, as there were a few cheap shots coming in despite some players trying to cool things down.
The referee referred to his assistants and tv replays and chose to red card the supposed instigators, Jourdain and Taumalolo, and then for throwing multiple punches, he also red carded Kiwi Hunt.
Twenty minutes into the second half there was another yellow card, so it was 13 vs 13 for a while, and each side received another yellow card each before the end of the match.
There was also an alleged eye-gouge after Grenoble scored their third try.
Grenoble went on to win the match 36-23.
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