Baby gets 4 week ban for headbutting ODriscoll

kenmc

Proper fcuking order - maybe even a bit lenient IMO.
http://www.planetrugby.com/News/story_42337.shtml

Hugh_C

kenmc wrote:

Proper fcuking order - maybe even a bit lenient IMO.
http://www.planetrugby.com/News/story_42337.shtml

When in the match did that happen? About midway through teh 2nd half? We could well be still on for the GS if he'd been carded.

damnyanks

We could also be totally out of it if we had lost to Italy...

Nothing anyone can do about anything now We can still get the championship

Eoin

damnyanks wrote:

We could also be totally out of it if we had lost to Italy...

Nothing anyone can do about anything now We can still get the championship

Dead right, let's not be like the English and blame the ref for losing the game :rolleyes:

I was at the match, and because they never replay the good stuff (all the handbags etc) on the big screen, I never saw exactly what happened - was the headbutt really that bad?

angeldelight

eoin_s wrote:

was the headbutt really that bad?

Yes! He spotted O'driscoll on the ground and moved in to headbutt him then got straight up again, no other intention at all. Right in side of the head/neck. I missed it the first time just saw o'driscoll's reaction which was quite enthusiastic so I watched carefully the 2nd time to see what the fuss was about! Really was awful.

herobear

from reading the thread title i thought an actual baby headbutted him :P
ahh the dissapointment

Eoin

herobear wrote:

from reading the thread title i thought an actual baby headbutted him :P
ahh the dissapointment

now that is funny

kenmc

herobear wrote:

from reading the thread title i thought an actual baby headbutted him :P
ahh the dissapointment

Hmmm - I had thought that it *could* be interpreted it that way but figured that anyone who would be interested in reading this would know that Baby was a frenchman who made his debut vs Ireland, scored a try, was voted man of the match and headbutted Drico.
Couldn't think of any way to rephrase the title though.....

edit:
Eoin, yeah it was pretty damn bad indeed. as was already said, Odriscoll was in a ruck, baby wasn't even in the bloody thing, suddenly steps into the camera shot and literally lunges on odriscoll with his forearm and his forehead. The forehead catches him on the soft bit of the skull at the back of the head.... totally unprovoked. should definitely have walked for that one, if only spreadbury/honis had seen it. can't believe they misse it to be honest... clear as day, on the edge of the ruck right in front of spreadbury....

Eoin

kenmc wrote:

totally unprovoked. should definitely have walked for that one, if only spreadbury/honis had seen it. can't believe they misse it to be honest... clear as day, on the edge of the ruck right in front of spreadbury....

That's the thing - Honiss did see it and told Spreadbury what happened, and he still didn't walk I had one of those ref link radios on, and from what I remember Honiss had a good idea of what happened. How Spreadbury missed it is beyond me, although someone made a comment that ALL he was looking at was the ball all day, and anything that happened a foot or more away from it was irrelevant...

Ah well, he got his ban now, and BOD wasn't injured.

kenmc

wierd - on the tv honis was kinda "huming and hawing", as if he wasn't very sure exactly what happened. At the end it sounded like he said to him to "speak to him very severely". Reminded me of Life Of Brian where Pontius Pilate tells one of the guards to "Stwike him, centuwion, vewwy woughly."
btw you know you can listen to the refs on a regular FM radio???? no need to buy a reflink.... can't remember the frequency, but it's not too far from 98FM i think..

Eoin

kenmc wrote:

wierd - on the tv honis was kinda "huming and hawing", as if he wasn't very sure exactly what happened. At the end it sounded like he said to him to "speak to him very severely". Reminded me of Life Of Brian where Pontius Pilate tells one of the guards to "Stwike him, centuwion, vewwy woughly."

Could be sparking off a huge debate here, but maybe the TMO should be used for other events then just the grounding of the ball?

kenmc wrote:

btw you know you can listen to the refs on a regular FM radio???? no need to buy a reflink.... can't remember the frequency, but it's not too far from 98FM i think..

Yeah, I was thinking that when I bought it, but was already quite drunk at that stage, so it made all the sense in the world to me.

angeldelight

i thought that he didn't see the headbutt though cause he didn't mention it, he said he dived in but thats all he ...eventually said isn't it?

Eoin

angeldelight wrote:

i thought that he didn't see the headbutt though cause he didn't mention it, he said he dived in but thats all he ...eventually said isn't it?

Ah - that could be it alright - as per my previous post I was not the soberest person at that stage, so maybe that's all he saw and all he could tell Spreadbury.

All that the linesman said was that baby arrived late into the ruck, he hadn't seen the headbutt, Spreadbury missed it too. It wasn't his fault, and i'm glad that most of teh anger has been towards Baby and not Spreders.

Crash

actually tbh i think he saw the headbutt - he started speaking to spreadbury, said "he...." then paused for about 3 seconds, as though thinking what to say, and then said "he came in late"

Kevin_rc_ie

i think the referee and the linesman should have stepped up to the mark and said what they saw. i think it was disgraceful. admitedly, i was a bit shocked as it happened, cos it certainly was no tradional head butt, but the refeerees bottled it.

Crash

tbh i think the incident with Kaplan and Robinson might've had a larger effect than people anticipated - i mean i'm sure the linesman saw something out of line - he's an experienced ref and definitely thought long and hard about what he was gonna say - but i mean kaplan came under such hard press in england i wonder whether that will influence referees towards not making seriously team affecting decisions like Baby being sent off would have - i mean whether it would've affected the outcome of the match isnt something i want to get into tbh, however, Baby being sent off would've been a damn pain for france.

damnyanks

It doesn't really matter. Baby has shown what sort of player he is. It was a disgusting thing to do but we've all seen far worse.

Currently I do not think we have played to our potential and perhaps the french game will be a blessing in disguise. Then again it may of been nothing and the Irish team will continue to play to the bare minimum to stay in contention and hope for a win. Offensivly at least

Kevin_rc_ie

i'd be very surprised if the sending off baby wouldn't have affected the final score.
poor refereeing.

so this ban, what does he miss? obviously the italy game. the heineken cup matches too? he plays for toulouse does he? they still in it?

Crash

actually a part of me thinks its a huge pity that baby acted the way he did. i mean, the guy has great potential, and showed great play at times during that game, and he marred his own international debut with an act like that. it was stupid, it was foolish, and i'm sure he's now kicking himself for it. but to see a fresh new player who could be very very good have their early career marred with their own stupidity just makes me feel some level of pity for the guy.

Crash

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

i'd be very surprised if the sending off baby wouldn't have affected the final score.
poor refereeing.

so this ban, what does he miss? obviously the italy game. the heineken cup matches too? he plays for toulouse does he? they still in it?

also, baby misses the french game, two domestics and the Heineken cup quarter final between toulouse and northampton.

Kevin_rc_ie

that's very true crash. however, you must be responcible for your actions, regardless of how our of character they are. he's only what 21, looks very good. might cope him on a bit.