Wed 25 Jan 2012 | 11:05
Nathan Hines hangs onto two Ulster players

18
Comments

Clermont Auvergne will face Saracens in the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup following their hard fought 19-15 win over Ulster on Saturday. Below is a look at a unique bit of foul play that infuriated Ulster fans.

In recent times we've featured incidents where holding onto a player results in a retaliation in the form of someone lashing out, and in some cases even, a punch and red card.

Usually it's just a jersey or arm tugging that prevents someone from getting to the next phase of play, but in the case of Nathan Hines on the weekend, he managed to take out two players at once.

Unfortunately for Clermont his indiscretion cost them a try as he held onto not only Stephen Ferris, but Pedrie Wanneburg as well. Both players did well to not take a swing at him, although shortly after Lee Byrne crossed for what would have been a try, a scuffle broke out with multiple players.

Some would have liked to have seen Hines yellow carded for such a cynical piece of gamesmanship, but referee Dave Pearson and his assistant decided that a penalty was sufficient punishment.

Many of you wanted to see the incident again, so have a look and let us know in the comments what you think of the way it was handled by the players involved and the officials.

18 Comments

  • patedelievre
    7:12 PM 29/01/2012

    absolutely hilarious!

  • pretzel
    1:02 PM 28/01/2012

    I wrote my last comment in a hurry.

    I do find it funny, because lets face it this is outrageous, he stops 3 guys... I know he did what he needed to do, or felt he needed to do, and for some part I understand it (everyone does it). What really grinds me though is when players retaliate and get punished. See Danny Grewcock with regards to his stamp on ferris arm...where ferris holds on to grewocks arm and leg (whilst lying on the floor) and grewcock stamps his arm, Ferris "shouts in pain" towards the referee... result: Grewcock red!

    Now, its in the red zone of the field (RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE TRY LINE!) and grewcock the defending player is being held! EXACTLY the same happens here, (with more players lol) if it had been missed and someone went through the edge to score because ferris was being held he'd have been livid, so honestly I reckon the only reason ferris didn't swipe out was because it was Hines (a rather large unit!)

    So I hope that more often than not these things get blown up quickly, either that or let a player take a swipe!

  • pretzel
    3:06 AM 28/01/2012

    I am a fan of hines but I find this awful. I was screaming blue murder when hines got done for that swipe on byrnes after being held, so I'm glad to see it swings the other way.

    Seen it time and time again players being held resorting to dishing out their own punishment only for THEM to be carded, glad the ref sorted this out, although, wouldn't have blamed the ulster men for giving hines a clout!

  • rufty
    12:36 PM 27/01/2012

    Must say the discipline of the Ulster lads involved was top notch. Many's a player that would lash out at such blatant cheating.

  • sankeor
    4:34 AM 27/01/2012

    3 big guys, what a skill ! haha...
    No really the game was great, and Clermont played hard and better against a team which, in my opinion, used a foul play to compensate and tilt the scale towards its side (I just say, coz according to the vid one could think the opposite).
    I have to say the very "liberal" style of the referee didn't help too, but Clermont really won by the sweat of their brows.

  • ando
    1:04 AM 26/01/2012

    Incredible self-control from the two Ulster players not to lash out, but what disgraceful unsportsmanlike behaviour from the Clermont forward!

    You know who else is good at doing this sneaky/cheaty off-the-ball stuff? The All Blacks are masters of it, particularly that man McCaw. I recall in the last Tri Nations 2011 match that a couple of ABs held down Pocock for something like 10+ seconds after a ruck, which gave them time to create an overlap and Nonu I think it was went over to score. Pocock the whole time was appealing to the touch judges but they didn't see it. Rugby doesn't need that crap...

  • vanadyel
    11:49 PM 25/01/2012

    Troll spotted :D

  • 11:36 PM 25/01/2012

    i agree with darth vader but also found the whole thing quite comical. impressive feat of strength actually, those are some big units he's impeding.

  • 10:23 PM 25/01/2012

    That's how Clermont supporters are: fervent in their belief that their team in infallible. Watching home Top 14 matches is almost unbearable. There aren't many sides whose fans harass the ref as much as Clermont's do. Like the Philadelphia Eagles or Boston Red Sox fans of French rugby.

  • guy
    9:32 PM 25/01/2012

    Don't make it bigger than it is:

    a) an actually quite funny piece of foul play;
    b) the try being disallowed and a penalty to the opposing team is punishment enough;
    c) Ulster players did exactly what they should do: appeal to the linesman instead of taking justice in their own hands.

    I had a good chuckle watching this anyhow.

  • vanadyel
    7:29 PM 25/01/2012

    Ulster have play quite foul on lots of rucks, slowing down the ball.
    And I've seen a lot of bad refereeing in favor of Ulster as well.

    I guess we fans have a one-way opinion on refereeing.

  • reality
    6:20 PM 25/01/2012

    Ahah, I like all the Clermont supporters here claiming that Ulster are the real cheats. Did you not watch the video? And did you not see your completely illegal try as well? Come on! Be realistic. Ulster weren't the better team here but they were beaten by 4 points where 7 Clermont points came from the most obviously illegal try since Mike Philips versus Ireland. Also, remember Brock James's 'knock-on' where he slapped the ball to the ground in the middle of an Ulster move, and then the ref gave a scrum instead of a penalty, and then reversed it when Muller pointed out that it was a deliberate knock-on? And you call Ulster the cheats?

  • thbts
    6:14 PM 25/01/2012

    And Parra, still in the middle of the fight...

  • sp1nlo0p
    1:37 PM 25/01/2012

    refs should have picked it up way earlier AND the players which were held should have freed themselves instead of appealing to the referees

  • colombes
    1:14 PM 25/01/2012

    Comical but cynical action by Hines. in fact, he was hanging 3 players.
    Logical decision, no try and penalty for ulster. Even this foul was blatant, many are hard to see, good to see an assistant check at it
    Ps: Hines even did a block on the jaunards try

    but to summarize clermont win on these 2 actions would be easy, they were far more dominant, and ulster were also cheating in many rucks.

  • rugbydas
    12:53 PM 25/01/2012

    i got to say though, it looks hilarious.

  • mdunlop9
    12:45 PM 25/01/2012

    He's holding down Tuohy as well!

  • barryt
    12:31 PM 25/01/2012

    the saddest part of that match was hines getting penalised for holding onto the 2 lads, then later in the match taking out chris henry at the side of the ruck so the sub hooker for clermont could slip in for an easy try, if hines had been carded that wouldn't have happened and possibly ulster could have the home quarter....who knows! bad sportsmanship cause clermont were PROBABLY gonna score anyway but there was no need to do it illegally, great match though