Sean Lamont yellow carded for hit on Isa Nacewa

It’s the day after Christmas and you’ve probably had way too much to eat and drink. One thing you haven’t had in a couple of days though, is your usual helping of rugby clips here on Rugbydump.

So today things are back on track as I’ve got this big hit for you from the recent match between the Scarlets and Leinster in the Heineken Cup.

Lately a lot of big tackles have been scrutinised very closely as we’ve seen some players get away with a few hits they perhaps shouldn’t have, and others who have been harshly dealt with by both the refs and the citing commissions.

In November we featured a clip of Scottish wing Sean Lamont putting in two big hits against the Fijians at Murrayfield. Against Leinster a couple of weeks ago, Lamont smashed another Fijian, but this time had ten minutes on the sideline afterwards to think about his technique.

Referee Chris White, after conferring with his touch judge, said that Lamont used his shoulder and didn’t wrap his arms as he flew into Isa Nacewa. Despite Lamont’s protestations, he was given the yellow card and Leinster kicked the resulting penalty.

It’s a perfect example of how two different referees can view a tackle completely differently, as Lamont’s second tackle (in the other clip that you can view in the related links) was very similar to this, yet was deemed perfectly legal.

Another interesting point about this clip is that at the end you can see Shane Horgan and Daniel Evans in a bit of a scuffle, with Horgan placing his hand all over the face of Evans. You can hear the crowd react when they see the replay on the big screen in the stadium.

If we’ve learned anything lately, it’s that if Horgan had even so much as touched his fingers on Evans’ eyes, it would have been considered some kind of ‘eye-gouge’, and he may well have been in trouble for it.

It’s obvious though that Horgan wasn’t doing anything of the sort, but shows you how easily actions can be misinterpreted when scrutinised so critically.

Horgan was basically a few centimetres away from being labelled an eye-gouger for the rest of his career, which is ridiculous. Perhaps something to bear in mind when making judgements about the incidents we’ve seen this year, and will no doubt see in the future.

Time:

01:56