Lions 2013: James Horwill verdict means rugby union can never again claim the moral high ground
James Horwill in, Paul O’Connell out – the scales of justice came crashing down from a great height in Australia.
Cleared: Wallaby captain James Horwill was found not guilty of stamping on the head of Alun-Wyn Jones in the first Test Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Mick Cleary, Rugby Union Correspondent, in Brisbane
3:34PM BST 24 Jun 2013
While the Lions lock fiddles with the splint on his fractured arm and curses his luck, the captain of Australia, with a nod to the judicial officer who cleared him of an alleged stamp on Alun-Wyn Jones, primes himself for the battle to save the series on Saturday.
They used to know the value of deterrent and hard labour in these parts, the need for appropriate sanction to set an example to others. In one fell swoop the disciplinary buffoons have made a mockery of their own system.
There is only one message that can be derived from Saturday’s action, which involved clear contact of the Horwill boot on Jones’s head, and it is that kicks to that part of the body are not always a foul and heinous thing. No one is suggesting Horwill should be sentenced to a spot of rock breaking for his recklessness.
He is not a thug or a villain by reputation – sparky and fiery, for sure – but this was beyond the pale and he ought to be missing this all-important Test. Even the Australians seemed taken aback by the leniency; a local leaned across the breakfast table in Brisbane on Monday and apologised. A few tables away were the well-stacked hulks from the New South Wales rugby league team. They, too, know all about the need for restraint.
Quite whether they adhere to it for Wednesday night’s second game of this year’s State of Origin remains to be seen, but they fully realise what will happen if they step out of line. These hard men of the footie code have been put on the naughty step following a punch-up in game one.
“Ban the Biff” was the front-page headline that greeted news that the rugby league authorities were cracking down after the bad publicity caused by the dust-up. Rugby league used to pride itself on its macho roughness. Now it is acutely sensitive to the need to capture hearts and minds of the young, or of their mothers at any rate.
Rugby union, meanwhile, does not seem to care a fig. Horwill’s reprieve creates a terrible precedent.
The case was dismissed because the judicial officer, Nick Hampton of New Zealand, was not persuaded that Horwill had intended to kick Jones. The hearing took well over three hours. Well, here is a simple truth heard many times from players down the generations – they always know where their feet are. Always.
They know where bodies are beneath them. And they certainly have an acute awareness of where someone’s head is. There might be some repercussions yet, with the International Rugby Board keeping a beady eye on developments.
Saturday’s first Test was an enormously high-profile occasion. It was hyped to the hilt, and it delivered on that front, thousands descending on Brisbane, many, many more tuning in to the TV footage from all corners. The authorities cannot have it both ways.
If they want to promote the sport, to present it as vibrant, worthy and appealing, then they have to set standards that matter. On Sunday night, the disciplinary infrastructure collapsed.
Rugby often bangs on about occupying the moral high ground, particularly in regard to that feckless lot in football. Never again can it peddle that line. Never again can it pretend that it has high ethical codes of behaviour. And never again can it claim that its system of justice is equitable round the globe.
Once again there appears to be one law applied in the southern hemisphere, quite another in operation elsewhere. There have been too many miscarriages for it to be coincidence. Schalk Burger and his alleged gouging of Luke Fitzgerald in South Africa four years ago. The high, swinging arm of Wallaby centre, Nathan Grey that took out Richard Hill 12 years ago.
Marius Bosman on Doddie Weir in 1997, Tana Umaga and his mates on Brian O’Driscoll 2005. Innocent of all charges, m’lud. It stinks.
Blinkers on Down Under
The worldly view from Australia. Suncorp Stadium was packed to the rafters on Saturday with 20,000 fans from overseas. The bars and restaurants throughout Brisbane had been heaving all day long. The noise was deafening as the teams emerged. And remained so. “So, Israel Folau, does that compare to State of Origin?” the triple-code Wallaby was asked afterwards without a hint of irony.
Yes, that is the State of Origin rugby league series played between the same two states every year. Sometimes you can only shake your head.
Davies a true sportsman
The human touch. The adrenalin was flowing just before kick-off on Saturday. Both teams were pumped and ready for action. Within 52 seconds debutant Wallaby centre Christian Leali’ifano was out cold on the turf after his head struck Jonathan Davies’s hip. The action moved on, yet Davies saw immediately that his opposite number was in trouble, all spaced out with his pupils staring upwards. Davies stayed with him and made sure the referee called a halt to play. Good man.
James Horwill in, Paul O’Connell out – the scales of justice came crashing down from a great height in Australia.
Cleared: Wallaby captain James Horwill was found not guilty of stamping on the head of Alun-Wyn Jones in the first Test Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Mick Cleary, Rugby Union Correspondent, in Brisbane
3:34PM BST 24 Jun 2013
While the Lions lock fiddles with the splint on his fractured arm and curses his luck, the captain of Australia, with a nod to the judicial officer who cleared him of an alleged stamp on Alun-Wyn Jones, primes himself for the battle to save the series on Saturday.
They used to know the value of deterrent and hard labour in these parts, the need for appropriate sanction to set an example to others. In one fell swoop the disciplinary buffoons have made a mockery of their own system.
There is only one message that can be derived from Saturday’s action, which involved clear contact of the Horwill boot on Jones’s head, and it is that kicks to that part of the body are not always a foul and heinous thing. No one is suggesting Horwill should be sentenced to a spot of rock breaking for his recklessness.
He is not a thug or a villain by reputation – sparky and fiery, for sure – but this was beyond the pale and he ought to be missing this all-important Test. Even the Australians seemed taken aback by the leniency; a local leaned across the breakfast table in Brisbane on Monday and apologised. A few tables away were the well-stacked hulks from the New South Wales rugby league team. They, too, know all about the need for restraint.
Quite whether they adhere to it for Wednesday night’s second game of this year’s State of Origin remains to be seen, but they fully realise what will happen if they step out of line. These hard men of the footie code have been put on the naughty step following a punch-up in game one.
“Ban the Biff” was the front-page headline that greeted news that the rugby league authorities were cracking down after the bad publicity caused by the dust-up. Rugby league used to pride itself on its macho roughness. Now it is acutely sensitive to the need to capture hearts and minds of the young, or of their mothers at any rate.
Rugby union, meanwhile, does not seem to care a fig. Horwill’s reprieve creates a terrible precedent.
The case was dismissed because the judicial officer, Nick Hampton of New Zealand, was not persuaded that Horwill had intended to kick Jones. The hearing took well over three hours. Well, here is a simple truth heard many times from players down the generations – they always know where their feet are. Always.
They know where bodies are beneath them. And they certainly have an acute awareness of where someone’s head is. There might be some repercussions yet, with the International Rugby Board keeping a beady eye on developments.
Saturday’s first Test was an enormously high-profile occasion. It was hyped to the hilt, and it delivered on that front, thousands descending on Brisbane, many, many more tuning in to the TV footage from all corners. The authorities cannot have it both ways.
If they want to promote the sport, to present it as vibrant, worthy and appealing, then they have to set standards that matter. On Sunday night, the disciplinary infrastructure collapsed.
Rugby often bangs on about occupying the moral high ground, particularly in regard to that feckless lot in football. Never again can it peddle that line. Never again can it pretend that it has high ethical codes of behaviour. And never again can it claim that its system of justice is equitable round the globe.
Once again there appears to be one law applied in the southern hemisphere, quite another in operation elsewhere. There have been too many miscarriages for it to be coincidence. Schalk Burger and his alleged gouging of Luke Fitzgerald in South Africa four years ago. The high, swinging arm of Wallaby centre, Nathan Grey that took out Richard Hill 12 years ago.
Marius Bosman on Doddie Weir in 1997, Tana Umaga and his mates on Brian O’Driscoll 2005. Innocent of all charges, m’lud. It stinks.
Blinkers on Down Under
The worldly view from Australia. Suncorp Stadium was packed to the rafters on Saturday with 20,000 fans from overseas. The bars and restaurants throughout Brisbane had been heaving all day long. The noise was deafening as the teams emerged. And remained so. “So, Israel Folau, does that compare to State of Origin?” the triple-code Wallaby was asked afterwards without a hint of irony.
Yes, that is the State of Origin rugby league series played between the same two states every year. Sometimes you can only shake your head.
Davies a true sportsman
The human touch. The adrenalin was flowing just before kick-off on Saturday. Both teams were pumped and ready for action. Within 52 seconds debutant Wallaby centre Christian Leali’ifano was out cold on the turf after his head struck Jonathan Davies’s hip. The action moved on, yet Davies saw immediately that his opposite number was in trouble, all spaced out with his pupils staring upwards. Davies stayed with him and made sure the referee called a halt to play. Good man.
