Planet Rugby Forum

DragsterDriver wrote:

Yourmother wrote:Just to be facetious...

But boss yes I did grab her ass/cleared her out/dump tackled her/ran over her at the watercooler, but I wasn’t rough ... so I insist you severely temper any punishment

Dumb argument, it’s not a standard workplace- rugby is a string of criminal offences. Marler is fûcked without resorting to this nonsense.

Both he and AWJ have played their last 6n.

Gwenno wrote:Remember the 'bag snatching' incident? Swansea v The Wallabies in the 90s, wasn't it?

Torquemada 1420 wrote:

Keith wrote:

Torquemada 1420 wrote:

Keith wrote:I'm loving the Celts going full retard over this

Black Mac jokingly said on the match thread that if you did that in the pub, you'd be facing a sexual assault charge.

Thing is he is correct in today's climate. It was retarded from Marler but between he, Sinckler and Farrell, Eng have 3 players who are liable to cost Eng when it matters.

That "if you did the same thing in a...." argument is utter bullshit, as pointed out several times on this thread already

Why don't you try it? Or in the workplace (assuming you have a job).

That sort of "lad" behaviour will fly when it's between consenting friends.

Wonder what the view would be had it been a female player rather than AWJ.

Joost wrote:My view would probably be ‘why the f%ck was there a female player on the field during a men’s match’

I’m going to just go ahead and assume that all the posters whining about this as assault (rather than finding it mildly amusing but accepting that Marler is probably going to get a sanction) are backs.

I actually felt two other men in white could also have spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

The first was Joe Marler, for making contact with Alun Wyn Jones’s nether regions. There was a lot of amusement on social media following the incident, and it was clearly done in a light-hearted manner, but that is not the sort of behaviour World Rugby would want to see on a rugby pitch.

I wrote earlier this week about how backchat to referees was eroding the values of the game, and I would put this in the same category.

This may sound like it’s taking the whole incident a little too seriously, but as a referee you have a duty to uphold the spirit of the game. Contextually, imagine if this was swept under the carpet and everyone started doing it. Good luck with trying to manage that!

As such I believe that TMO Jonker should have taken action and instructed O’Keefe, who understandably did not see the incident, to take another look on the big screen. If he had done then I think a yellow card would have been the right call.

That said, you do need to take the nature of the incident into account when considering if any further sanction should be taken against Marler. World Rugby’s laws state a minimum 12-week ban for ‘grabbing, twisting or squeezing’ the testicles, but I think they refer to a far more serious offence - one where you intend to hurt your opponent, which was not the case here.

I also thought Owen Farrell could have gone for a series of infringements in the first 24 minutes of the game. The first was for pushing North after the Welshman knocked on close to the line, resulting in some handbags. It was needless. He pushed North again as he was following up a kick-chase (barely a couple of minutes after O'Keefe had warned him) and was finally penalised for being caught on the wrong side. Part of the art of being a good Test referee is knowing when to upgrade a sanction for the benefit of the game, and despite having a reasonably good outing in this Test, I thought this was an area where O'Keefe could improve.

Torquemada 1420 wrote:Kaplan's view in the Torygraph

I actually felt two other men in white could also have spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

The first was Joe Marler, for making contact with Alun Wyn Jones’s nether regions. There was a lot of amusement on social media following the incident, and it was clearly done in a light-hearted manner, but that is not the sort of behaviour World Rugby would want to see on a rugby pitch.

I wrote earlier this week about how backchat to referees was eroding the values of the game, and I would put this in the same category.

This may sound like it’s taking the whole incident a little too seriously, but as a referee you have a duty to uphold the spirit of the game. Contextually, imagine if this was swept under the carpet and everyone started doing it. Good luck with trying to manage that!

As such I believe that TMO Jonker should have taken action and instructed O’Keefe, who understandably did not see the incident, to take another look on the big screen. If he had done then I think a yellow card would have been the right call.

That said, you do need to take the nature of the incident into account when considering if any further sanction should be taken against Marler. World Rugby’s laws state a minimum 12-week ban for ‘grabbing, twisting or squeezing’ the testicles, but I think they refer to a far more serious offence - one where you intend to hurt your opponent, which was not the case here.

I also thought Owen Farrell could have gone for a series of infringements in the first 24 minutes of the game. The first was for pushing North after the Welshman knocked on close to the line, resulting in some handbags. It was needless. He pushed North again as he was following up a kick-chase (barely a couple of minutes after O'Keefe had warned him) and was finally penalised for being caught on the wrong side. Part of the art of being a good Test referee is knowing when to upgrade a sanction for the benefit of the game, and despite having a reasonably good outing in this Test, I thought this was an area where O'Keefe could improve.

J Man wrote:If I did this to a woman at work while rubbing my cock up against her, it would be considered sexual assault.

J Man wrote:It's all going to be swept under the carpet then.

Yourmother wrote:

JM2K6 wrote:

Floppykid wrote:There's a law regarding grabbing the genetils that sets the low end at 12 weeks right?
Or was that twitter fake news?

It talks about grabbing, twisting, squeezing etc - ie roughness. I think a half decent lawyer could argue out of that one.

I'm all for shithousery being punished - I was pleased Farrell was penalised for it - but I would be pretty annoyed if that specific law was applied here.

That isn't to say he shouldn't be punished in some way.

Grabbing, twisting OR squeezing.

Did he grab?
Did he squeeze?

That’s 2/3 when only 1 required. Plus it’s clearly deliberate.

You’re the only clown bringing roughness as a criteria.

tc27 wrote:Yeah he will cop a feel..a bit shit for Harlequins

Anonymous. wrote:

Yourmother wrote:

JM2K6 wrote:

Floppykid wrote:There's a law regarding grabbing the genetils that sets the low end at 12 weeks right?
Or was that twitter fake news?

It talks about grabbing, twisting, squeezing etc - ie roughness. I think a half decent lawyer could argue out of that one.

I'm all for shithousery being punished - I was pleased Farrell was penalised for it - but I would be pretty annoyed if that specific law was applied here.

That isn't to say he shouldn't be punished in some way.

Grabbing, twisting OR squeezing.

Did he grab?
Did he squeeze?

That’s 2/3 when only 1 required. Plus it’s clearly deliberate.

You’re the only clown bringing roughness as a criteria.

I was sure he squeezed with the thumb and forefinger

Biffer29 wrote:I was laughing my ass off at it at the time, but the more I think about it the more I reckon he needs to cop a ban. Trying to goad another player into punching you isn’t part of the game - if you want a fight, have a fight, not a feel.

Torquemada 1420 wrote:

Keith wrote:I'm loving the Celts going full retard over this

Black Mac jokingly said on the match thread that if you did that in the pub, you'd be facing a sexual assault charge.

Thing is he is correct in today's climate. It was retarded from Marler but between he, Sinckler and Farrell, Eng have 3 players who are liable to cost Eng when it matters.

Torquemada 1420 wrote:

Keith wrote:

Torquemada 1420 wrote:

Keith wrote:I'm loving the Celts going full retard over this

Black Mac jokingly said on the match thread that if you did that in the pub, you'd be facing a sexual assault charge.

Thing is he is correct in today's climate. It was retarded from Marler but between he, Sinckler and Farrell, Eng have 3 players who are liable to cost Eng when it matters.

That "if you did the same thing in a...." argument is utter bullshit, as pointed out several times on this thread already

Why don't you try it? Or in the workplace (assuming you have a job).

That sort of "lad" behaviour will fly when it's between consenting friends.

Wonder what the view would be had it been a female player rather than AWJ.

Biffer29 wrote:I was laughing my ass off at it at the time, but the more I think about it the more I reckon he needs to cop a ban. Trying to goad another player into punching you isn’t part of the game - if you want a fight, have a fight, not a feel.

Biffer29 wrote:I was laughing my ass off at it at the time, but the more I think about it the more I reckon he needs to cop a ban. Trying to goad another player into punching you isn’t part of the game - if you want a fight, have a fight, not a feel.

Floppykid wrote:Hopefully he cops the maximum ban possible, that'd be funny.

Ulsters Red Hand wrote:If you don't think this was funny and that it only deserves to cop a ban, as per the letter of the law, there's something wrong.

Twitter in hysteria about sexual assault, the woke brigade strikes again. It is a little weird, though.

Salanya wrote:I'm sure the Twitter-sphere will go over the top, but a statement has to be made to clarify that this is not normal behaviour.
You may call it banter, but it's professional sport, not just some mates playing for pints. And the professional game needs to set an example. You can say it was barely a little grab, but quite quickly you get in a grey area between this and a proper tug.

I don't think it needs a banning, but he should be cited just to emphasise that this is not appropriate behaviour.

Mog The Almighty wrote:Hilarious all the snowflake wokestars on this forum getting outraged on behalf of a gigantic international rugby player. . Fůcking nutters. It's almost as bad as twitter.

Who gives a shit? It was slightly amusing for a second. Play on.

eldanielfire wrote:

Bullettyme wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:

Cullen wrote:Much difference between this and Hopoate?

Marler didn't actually put his hand in AWJs shorts? It was obviously a joke from Marler, even if he crossed boundaries and was out of order. Hopoate was actual sexual assault IMO.

If you went and grabbed some guys cock and balls and he didn't want it I reckon its sexual assault. Buggering isn't the be all.

AWJ didn't look too impressed. Marler is probably lucky they are friends and ex team mates.

I've called Marler's inappropriate sexual contact. His actions may well be defined as sexual assault. The reason why I labelled it as I did is due to it could be defined as sexual harassment as assault requires sexual intent. But I can't say I'll know what the law intends it to be. It could be both.

DragsterDriver wrote:

Yourmother wrote:Just to be facetious...

But boss yes I did grab her ass/cleared her out/dump tackled her/ran over her at the watercooler, but I wasn’t rough ... so I insist you severely temper any punishment

Dumb argument, it’s not a standard workplace- rugby is a string of criminal offences. Marler is fûcked without resorting to this nonsense.

Both he and AWJ have played their last 6n.

EverReady wrote:Think AWJ has a lot to answer for if Marler gets in trouble

Akkerman wrote:

Floppykid wrote:Hopefully he cops the maximum ban possible, that'd be funny.

208 weeks would be funny ?

henry wrote:

Mog The Almighty wrote:Hilarious all the snowflake wokestars on this forum getting outraged on behalf of a gigantic international rugby player. . Fůcking nutters. It's almost as bad as twitter.

Who gives a shit? It was slightly amusing for a second. Play on.

‘Snowflake wokestars’.



Get a hold of yourself, you massive twat.

EverReady wrote:Think AWJ has a lot to answer for if Marler gets in trouble

Ulsters Red Hand wrote:If you don't think this was funny and that it only deserves to cop a ban, as per the letter of the law, there's something wrong.

Twitter in hysteria about sexual assault, the woke brigade strikes again. It is a little weird, though.

EverReady wrote:Think AWJ has a lot to answer for if Marler gets in trouble