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Thu 1 Dec 2016 | 11:07
USA Women's winger Naya Tapper banned for alleged kick

14
Comments

USA ladies winger Naya Tapper has been suspended from the entire Dubai Sevens Tournament following a bizarre incident that took place during the Test against France last weekend. In seconds, Tapper somehow ended up taking out two French players.

It's been a busy week for World Rugby's citing commissioners of late, with a plethora of incidents, cards and suspensions from the various end-of-year internationals.

While some have been fairly clear cut – Elliot Daly’s sending off against Argentina and Will Skelton’s yellow for a charge versus Scotland – others have been more ambiguous, such as the yellow card and subsequent ban on USA women’s winger Tapper.

The incident itself was relatively innocuous as Tapper inadvertently struck French player Pauline Rayssac, unfortunately knocking the Montpellier flanker out cold. Tapper also appeared to make contact with full back Laura Delas who made the tackle.

The reaction from her team-mates and officials afterwards was highly commendable as it wasn’t clear how badly injured Rayssac was.

The incident as a whole was referred to the TMO to check for potential foul play. The clash with Rayssac was deemed accidental but the second strike on Delas prompted referee Rose La Breche to hand Tapper a yellow card.

In the disciplinary hearing that followed, Tapper denied that she committed an act of foul play.

Whether there was sufficient intent or not is unclear, but she subsequently copped a three week suspension for her actions – meaning she will miss the upcoming Dubai 7s tournament in which she was due to compete.

A World Rugby statement said: "Ms Tappar was therefore suspended from playing rugby for a total of three weeks. In light of Ms Tappar's forthcoming playing schedule (including many matches in international Sevens tournaments), the Disciplinary Committee imposed a suspension covering the entirety of the forthcoming World Rugby's Dubai Sevens tournament, and she will be free to play again as of 3 December 2016, when that tournament has been completed."

France went on to win the match 31-6 in Montpellier.

Were Tappar’s actions intentional, or did the law come down harshly on her?

Posted By: Stephen Brunsdon

14 Comments

  • danknapp
    1:03 PM 07/12/2016

    How does she feel about going off feet? Arf arf arf.

  • gonzoman
    8:51 PM 06/12/2016

    Mrs. Gonzoman is still completing her rugby education - she's figured out the difference between a ruck and a maul, so there's hope!

  • gonzoman
    8:50 PM 06/12/2016

    No, just a friend! We used to referee in the same ref's society - I've ARed for her on a number of occasions.

  • dancarter
    1:48 PM 03/12/2016

    Andrew Hore realised you couldn't tackle Dan Carter quite a while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lDUSoR8ZK8

  • drg
    10:46 PM 02/12/2016

    It's not Mrs Gonzoman is it????

  • gonzoman
    8:12 PM 02/12/2016

    I can ask the ref herself if you'd like...I'll let you know what she says!

  • drg
    11:00 AM 02/12/2016

    What was the ban and the yellow actually for?

    If we rule the kick to the bystanding French player who got knocked out as completely accidental and out of Tappars control, then I'd guess it's safe to say it's not what the yellow card was for....

    So what was the referees stance? If the second kick to the head was the punishable offence then we have 2 ratings, accident or not... If it was an accident then surely it should be ruled the same as the first thing, if it wasn't an accident then wasn't it intentional, therefore a red?

    My position in the second incident is that she was trying to roll her knees/body on to the French player to 'impose' herself and throw a bit of niggle in there, I don't think it was intentional, but then reckless is fine I guess...

  • 9:46 PM 01/12/2016

    Unless you watch it many times it is hard to see what happens. I still am not convinced she did anything other than try to get up in a strange way and caught the 2nd woman in doing so. The 1st is obviously accidental and unfortunate for the French player.

  • coostov
    4:33 PM 01/12/2016

    If a teammate on his way off the pitch came to high five me on the way out, I'd look him straight in the eye and tell him to put that hand down and get the f*ck off the field.

  • coostov
    4:30 PM 01/12/2016

    First kick to #6 seemed accidental. She couldn't have known her face was right where her heel was going to hit. The second kick to #15 was intentional. New rugby players (which she clearly is to me, as I'll outline below) tend to flail their legs around when they're tackled. And sometimes these flailing legs make contact with faces (often times their own teammates coming in to ruck). I've had to tell many new players to NOT flail their legs when they're on the ground. Yellow card is the right call. The weekend ban seems harsh.

    And how I know she's new? Well one, the captain has to tell her where to go for the sin bin. But even funnier, she goes to shake all her teammates hands before she leaves the field. I would never shake my teammates hand before they leave the field with a yellow card (except for a professional foul or referee error), especially for a needless yellow like this one!

  • joeythelemur
    4:14 PM 01/12/2016

    I think the men's game should definitely adopt the "hug your captain when you've been sent off" as a new tradition. How great would it have been to see, for example Chris Ashton having to hug Dylan Hartley after being used as a punching bag by Manuel Tuilagi? Or Bismarck Du Plessis having to hug it out with Jan DeVilliers for the crime of tackling Dan Carter?

  • joeythelemur
    4:00 PM 01/12/2016

    Really strange, isn't it? Clearly accidental with the boot to the face but I'm trying to make sense of the card and ban. It must have been considered reckless to flail her legs like that in the tackle (admittedly, it looked strange and not a normal reaction).

    I'm also thinking that the USA player flailed because she didn't like that she was tackled even though she didn't have the ball. The tackler's position was such that she probably didn't see that the winger had dropped the pass. Really hard to see any significant contact from those camera angles.

  • danknapp
    3:06 PM 01/12/2016

    I've never seen anything like this before. Being tackled into another player and knocking them out. Couldn't quite see what was so terrible about the yellow card offence. I mean it looked clumsy and there was a tiny bit of contact, but if one woman hadn't been knocked out (quite accidentally) we wouldn't be talking about it at all.

  • danknapp
    3:03 PM 01/12/2016

    I thought the cowardly way the French woman attacked her with her face was disgusting. So typically French to be involved in something like this.

    #BanHerForLife

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