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Mon 12 Sep 2016 | 02:50
Front row sparks mass brawl and three red cards in Brive vs Grenoble clash

9
Comments

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.

Posted By: Grant Constable

9 Comments

  • 45678
    5:20 PM 13/09/2016

    Tbh, if I'd been lifted out of a scrum like that, I would probably start swinging as well.

    The opposition front row, while clearly dominating this scrum are doing it illegally by lifting and driving up

    Secondly the referee needs to know something is wrong. Perhaps there are better ways to communicate this than to start swinging, but occasionally it is the right thing

    Clearly this is at the end of the game and there appears to have been a lot of niggle including the gouge up to this point, but if the hooker has been unprotected like that for a succession of scrums and tried to communicate this the right way to no avail, then I'm afraid sometimes you just need to defend yourself

  • drg
    1:07 PM 13/09/2016

    I thought he had a sort of Joe Marler look about himself when he sat down at the end of the video...

    Yeahhhh, sorry about the analogy, I was trying to think of how best to describe it... I'm sure there are plenty more and far better scenarios that I could use, but that was the only one that came to mind...

  • stroudos
    11:45 AM 13/09/2016

    Nice analogy!

    So, yeah, bloke can't scrum properly, gets man-shamed, then thinks it's acceptable to take out his frustration by punching people. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. And he needs a shave too.

  • drg
    10:01 AM 13/09/2016

    However after watching the video again, looks like the entire pack had shit technique...

  • drg
    9:42 AM 13/09/2016

    From the second row point of view...

    If you imagine a spot, the prop in question is a spot and the second row and other prop are 'fingers'... they can put in an incredible amount of force and 'pop' out comes a prop! :P

    Second rows are taught to get lower as the props get lower and the whole pack gets lower... so as to get lower than the other pack and as you drive you're driving forwards as well as at an upwards angle, trying to force their front row up and out of the contest... basically boils down to shit technique by Jourdain...

  • stroudos
    7:21 AM 13/09/2016

    Edit: shit scrummaging technique by Jourdain and isn't he also let down by the second row behind him, who should be literally locking him in better?

  • stroudos
    7:20 AM 13/09/2016

    I'm not a prop, maybe someone can put me right here. Being lifted at the scrum like that - isn't that caused by really shit scrummaging technique by Jourdain?

    If that is the case, then I think Taumalolo can feel very hard done by here - munch someone in the scrum, then the bloke you've just "owned" starts raining punches on you. I think Taumalolo was entitled to defend himself and as far as I saw he did the bare minimum of self-defence too.

  • stroudos
    7:17 AM 13/09/2016

    No mate, we were all keeping a dignified silence and you had to go and spoil it! ;)

  • luc
    2:22 AM 13/09/2016

    Come on, no "only in France" comments yet?

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