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Mon 27 Mar 2017 | 01:52
Ed Quirk lashes out with elbow and knee after being held off the ball

42
Comments

Sunwolves flanker Ed Quirk was picked up on camera for this off the ball piece of foul play during their Super Rugby round 5 match against the Stormers on Saturday. Former Reds player Quirk was held down, so appeared to lose his cool a little bit as he attempted to get up.

Being held back or down illegally can be one of the most frustrating things to be on the wrong end of when trying to compete for your team, but as the laws - and logic - currently state, you cannot use your elbow or knee on another player, particularly their head.

The Stormers won the game 44-31 in Singapore. You can view highlights of the match here

credit: supersport

Posted By: Grant Constable

42 Comments

  • drg
    12:58 PM 31/03/2017

    Haha, I did notice that, but during my replies I thought I'd let it slide, otherwise my most wonderful and highly sought after opinion might get lost in the battle for naming the teams playing...

  • drg
    12:56 PM 31/03/2017

    I love this website.. XD

  • 1:20 AM 31/03/2017

    Anyone else notice that the Stormers were playing and not the Chiefs as often quoted above>
    OK - I'm being a dick now.

  • im1
    1:12 PM 30/03/2017

    Grewcock and Ball would be a good 2nd row partnership

  • jimmy23
    12:47 PM 30/03/2017

    Back in the day, getting cited might have excited Danny Grewcock.

  • dancarter
    10:09 AM 30/03/2017

    Never mind the fearsome Gloucester second row pairing of Savage-Thrush.

  • im1
    9:32 AM 30/03/2017

    that's a perfectly fair point in 99% of cases, but if you can cheat and get away with it, you can get applauded for it i.e. neil back at that scrum in the Heineken cup

    But anyway, the incident in question is not a season ender so its a moot point.

  • jimmy23
    8:27 AM 30/03/2017

    Let's hope the citing panel never has to deal with Jeremy Thrush.

  • 8:54 PM 29/03/2017

    I agree, holding a player down is small stuff and can be sorted out on the field. The first elbow was swift justice. The second and third elbow and knee to the head is thuggery.
    The worst thing about this is that it's the Sunwolves captain who lost his cool 7 minutes into the match. He can actually have a word with the referee and ask him to keep an eye out for this, if it happened again the referee could issue a warning to the Stormers and the next player would be penalised after that. Easy peasy....

  • im1
    6:50 PM 29/03/2017

    or willie le roux

    and now we are onto the dick puns..... a perfect rugbydump thread

  • 5:48 PM 29/03/2017

    The law book and the spirit of the game goes hand in hand in my opinion. If you knowingly transgress the laws of the game to get an advantage or try to injure someone you are doing so against the spirit of the game.

    I'm all for scars and battle stories that's a result of our beautiful game. Believe me, I have a couple of my own. Unfortunately, a battle story which ends with " And that was the end of my season because some idiot did something stupid " is not that great....

  • drg
    1:16 PM 29/03/2017

    This could get confusing if Werner Kok was being cited, or Rory Kockett for that matter...

  • drg
    1:14 PM 29/03/2017

    oh right, sorry, I see what you mean, I'm actually not sure I still agree it should be a card now though... I mean the sunwolves player did what he did then left it... Oh it's too complicated... I'm going back to my cave..

  • katman
    12:39 PM 29/03/2017

    If you transgress beyond a certain level, they throw the dicktionary at you?

  • finedisregard
    12:24 PM 29/03/2017

    Let players sort out small stuff. And this is small stuff.

    Holding players down means you not belong on the field (or you should prepare for swift justice, which is what this is). The Chiefs player is cheating by preventing the Sunwolves player by preventing him from playing rugby. The Sunwolves player is simply trying to play rugby.

    What is a player to do? Complain to a ref? Write their MP? Twitter? Sort the guy out and get on with it.

  • finedisregard
    12:17 PM 29/03/2017

    I like the "dick level" quotient and hope it is soon adopted by World Rugby.

    Your numbers are skewed. The Chiefs player holding the Sunwolves player has a dick factor of 8.3. the Sunwolves player (that is only trying to get on with the game of rugby) has a dick factor of .4.

    Holding a player away from the ball is worse than trying to play rugby.

  • jimmy23
    11:18 AM 29/03/2017

    I'd love to see World Rugby apply this on an official basis.

  • im1
    9:29 AM 29/03/2017

    i think I'm agreeing with you DrG though?

  • drg
    11:57 PM 28/03/2017

    I guess your opinion on rugby goes as far as the law book, the egg and the grass.... Most of us in the old and unimproved tend to find ethos, and spirit of the game and the good old laugh of drinks with your mates and opposition to be thoroughly appealing.... If the new and improved rugby player replays "oooooo thhsat wasth thooo dangerusth" to ever scar and battle story being told in the bar after a game then fk me, I'm out too....

  • drg
    11:54 PM 28/03/2017

    Are you kidding me!?! Whenever I'm on the floor around a ruck I'm expecting studs to make contact with either my ankles, hands, feet, arms, legs, back, chest, cock... To have a nice blunt knee pressed against my head would be firmly welcomed, as you can see here, looks like the stormers lock didn't even get tickled!

  • gonzoman
    6:51 PM 28/03/2017

    All this to say, Quirk was a dick and should be punished. Whether or not it was dangerous, some things just aren't cool.

  • gonzoman
    6:50 PM 28/03/2017

    One of my favourite things about rugby is that generally people acting like dicks are sorted out on the field until the "dick level" is balanced. Add to that the fact that if the "dick level" exceeds a certain total, the ref gets involved and it's simple and straightforward. Take for example this simple formula:

    - Chiefs lock holds Sunwolves flanker = he's a category 3 dick, and dick level is 0-3.
    - Sunwolves flanker rubs his elbow in Chiefs lock's face = category 4 dick move, dick level is 4-3 (total of 7)
    - Sunwolves flanker knees lock = upgrade him to category 7 dick, dick level is 7-3.

    At this point, things can go three ways:
    - nothing further happens (unlikely) and Quirk goes on his merry way as a category 7 dick. This is bad for rugby as a whole, because he'll be a cocky dick because he got away with it. No-one likes a cocky dick.
    - a Sunwolves player delivers a late hit or "gives him the bidness" in the shadowy depth of some ruck, thus bringing the dick level closer to balance (likely around 7-7, plus or minus 1). Games continues on, Quirk recognizes that being a dick has consequences and saves his prickishness for when it's absolutely necessary.
    - the referee decides that at 7-3, the total dick quotient for the game has exceeded the level he's comfortable with. He issues a penalty (-1 dick level), a yellow (-4 dick level), or a red (-total dick level of carded player). This brings the dick score of the game to an acceptable level, and theoretically moves it closer to balance.

  • 6:24 PM 28/03/2017

    Whenever you are tackled without the ball and not expecting the hit you are much more likely to pick up an injury as you will not be braced for the impact. No one should ever expect a knee to the head while lying on the ground thus the risk of injury is much higher. That's very dangerous in my book.

  • 6:14 PM 28/03/2017

    Don't forget the one drama queen who comes on and declares that his love of rugby is influenced by people on a blog discussing an act of foul play and how it can and can not be dangerous. Snowflake much?

  • drg
    5:40 PM 28/03/2017

    Don't get me wrong IM, I'm not saying it's not stupid and I'm not saying that because it's not dangerous that it's not a red, it was a red, but my semi tongue in cheek comment is highlighting how if players keep their hands to themselves, this shit doesn't happen...

    So red card is correct.... but I believe dishing out punishment for being held is fair as well..

  • guy
    3:59 PM 28/03/2017

    I understand you visit Pornhub for the comments section? ;-)

  • oliver
    3:19 PM 28/03/2017

    I thought I heard my name being called?

    https://media2.giphy.com/media/gngO1gmBhS9na/200.gif#1

  • vladimir
    2:38 PM 28/03/2017

    You anglo-saxon anti-french! Go eat your couscous elsewhere!
    Oh wait, ...

  • danknapp
    2:03 PM 28/03/2017

    Add in some stupid bollocks about how I'm basically anti-French for speaking English, and we're off to the races!

  • danknapp
    2:01 PM 28/03/2017

    What I despise about rugby at the moment is that the above conversation is about how dangerous (or not) the above is. Here's the basic requirements of every RD conversation from now on:
    - someone has to quote a player's weight
    - someone has to use an anecdote about someone who would be severely endangered if this happened to them, such as someone who had an existing neck injury*
    - someone else has to then massively overreact and say that this person is clearly not a player and wants to ruin the game that they grew up playing blah blah blah.

    I'm bored of this crap.

    Right now the comments on Pornhub are more interesting than half the chats on here.

    *a person who might also be hurt jerking their head by, say, sneezing.

  • danknapp
    1:56 PM 28/03/2017

    Don't overreact, DrG's use of 'cous cous eaters' is a joke about an earlier conversation.

    It is irritating, but as RD says above, there is still a line. Pretty sure this guy crossed it once he started using knees and elbows.

  • im1
    1:45 PM 28/03/2017

    firstly the drop height isn't 20cm and secondly his full mass is not being dropped. Thirdly the full force would not be transferred into the head/neck anyway. If this was 'very dangerous', then pretty much every contact situation in professional rugby would result in someone going to hospital. What is very dangerous are the overblown reactions claiming that incidents like these are 'very dangerous' as it detracts focus away from the parts of the game which are very dangerous, devoting time and effort to fixing problems which just aren't there.

    This particularly incident just isn't that dangerous. Doesn't make it right and doesn't mean it shouldn't be a red, but the reason it is/should be a red it to prevent players doing worse.

  • 12:37 PM 28/03/2017

    108kg's from 20cm onto your head or neck is very dangerous to anyone, even with very little force....

  • im1
    10:14 AM 28/03/2017

    I think 'very dangerous' is wrong. In the contest of a rugby match it probably gets a 1/10 for danger, but that isn't really the point on why it should be a red. You can't make intentional or reckless contact with your knee on the head of another player because it could be extremely dangerous. He didn't drop his knee from any height so wasn't going to do damage, but the laws need to be such that they prevent any injuries where possible. If this sort of stuff is allowed then what happens when the drop is a bit higher? Do we only punish players when the victim has ended up in hospital?

    Also, it should be possible to red card someone for being a dick. And this is being a dick. Defender should get retrospective yellow though and that put against his disciplinary record so that in the future if he ends up in front of a citing panel and claims he was provoked and asks for a reduction in the ban, he can be told where to go

  • andinov
    9:34 AM 28/03/2017

    Two wrongs don't make a right... I can't believe I even have to say this, it's like replying to a child!!!

  • oliver
    8:42 AM 28/03/2017

    That's what I thought too.... He gets held for a second and loses it immediately.

  • 7:44 AM 28/03/2017

    This thug was out of control, not a good characteristic for a captain. The no. 5 lock of the Stormers, JD Schickerling, broke his neck a couple of years ago and made a remarkable recovery. If that was him on the ground and the knee was a couple of cm's closer to the neck it could have resulted in a serious injury. I'm not condoning players holding others back or down but usually the best way to deal with it is a quick, subtle elbow or push. Once you land a couple of elbows and drop your knee onto someones head you don't belong on the field...

  • katman
    7:43 AM 28/03/2017

    That would have been a straight red if the ref or TMO had seen it, regardless of his "frustration". The holding back was for all of about two seconds. Does everyone who is ever held onto at a ruck have the right to lash out? Of course not. If he cops anything less than 4 weeks it will be an injustice. And yes, I love me some cous cous with my braai.

  • drg
    6:50 AM 28/03/2017

    ^^^

    See what I mean...

    "very dangerous"..... Very dangerous is what I may be require to leave behind in the bathroom shortly. THAT was probably painful and about it, or are we thinking that he could have burst an ear drum, fractured an eye socket, caused a concussion, a neck injury, and probably given the Stormers player a dose of herpes all at the same time..

  • pdg
    3:09 AM 28/03/2017

    This is an example of a player who is over hyped and is not in control. This type of off the ball incident should be an automatic 10 weeks minimum and the player should be refered to a psycologist for anger management.

  • 11:15 PM 27/03/2017

    Wouldn't want this guy to captain my team. 7 minutes into a match and he loses it because someone holds on to him on the ground? Would have been a straight red if this was picked up by the match officials which would have put his team on the back foot for pretty much the entire match.
    He should have gone to the referee and asked him to keep an eye out for him and his players being held back, no, instead he acted like a child and dropped a knee onto the head of a player on the ground. Cowardly and very dangerous. I haven't seen any news regarding a citing but he deserves a lengthy ban.

  • drg
    6:01 PM 27/03/2017

    Seems fair enough.... all of that would have been totally avoided had the Stormers player not held him....

    But I'm sure the masses of cous cous eaters will to taste his blood and want his head on a spike in a tremendous effort to reduce violence...

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