French Ball Grabber Goes Unpunished.

[sockwithaticket]

Or he may as well have done.

2 weeks for full on grabbing Leonardo Sarto's testicles with a good degree more force and mal-intent than earnt Joe Marler 10 weeks.

Sarto got a week for a retaliatory punch.

Baffling.

For those who haven't seen it:



Footage of the incident begins at 1:35 if I've messed up posting the video at the right time.

[sturginho]

Ridiculous

[laurent]

Wow the French rugby sites here were expecting way over this (years...)

Very lucky ... and surprising

[sturginho]

Also exactly how was the ref expecting Sarto to react to being grabbed by the balls?

[sockwithaticket]

Also exactly how was the ref expecting Sarto to react to being grabbed by the balls?

Tbf, it's long been established that retaliation gets sanctioned too regardless of how reasonable it may seem.

That said I am astonished they elected to ban him, even for just the one week, rather than say that the red card was sufficient punishment.

[Enzedder]

They gave the poor bugger a week off to recover. Very thoughtful of them. Grabber should get a tad more for the twist.

[stemoc]

thats nuts
but its french rugby, they play dirty all the time, so dirty that they will intentionally infect their Opposition with covid to get a free ride..

[Torquemada 1420]

I repeat my stance of 20 years of posting: ball grabbers and eye gougers should be life ban.

[stemoc]

I repeat my stance of 20 years of posting: ball grabbers and eye gougers should be life ban.

butt fingerers?

[MungoMan]

I repeat my stance of 20 years of posting: ball grabbers and eye gougers should be life ban.

butt fingerers?

...should be firmly directed to find another hobby.

[Sandstorm]

I repeat my stance of 20 years of posting: ball grabbers and eye gougers should be life ban.

butt fingerers?

...should be firmly directed to find another hobby.

League

[Slick]

Also exactly how was the ref expecting Sarto to react to being grabbed by the balls?

Tbf, it's long been established that retaliation gets sanctioned too regardless of how reasonable it may seem.

That said I am astonished they elected to ban him, even for just the one week, rather than say that the red card was sufficient punishment.

Perhaps a warning for the crapness of the punch?

[Hong Kong]

Or he may as well have done.

2 weeks for full on grabbing Leonardo Sarto's testicles with a good degree more force and mal-intent than earnt Joe Marler 10 weeks.

Sarto got a week for a retaliatory punch.

Baffling.

For those who haven't seen it:



Footage of the incident begins at 1:35 if I've messed up posting the video at the right time.

The original ball grabber was a grub act and deserves way more than 2 weeks, which as has been pointed out, is a far worse act than JM’s who got a significantly longer ban for a ‘fondle’ (it deserved sanction and a ban but 10 weeks? ). Now as for the victim, he retaliated, which is contrary to the laws and deserved sanction. Maybe a “red card was sufficient penalty” decision would have been correct but very few would have disagreed with a YC had been issued instead