Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Jerry Flannery stamp on Julien Bonnaire

Monday, January 14, 2008

Jerry Flannery stamp on Julien Bonnaire

In an incident packed Heineken Cup encounter in France yesterday, Munster were narrowly defeated by Clermont Auvergne 26 points to 19, with Munster picking up a late bonus point for being within seven.

Referee Rob Debney was the centre of attention after dishing out three yellow cards to home players, but missing out on this terrible incident.

I've just seen the incident myself, and it looks pretty bad. Jerry Flannery lifted his leg then brought it down on French back-rower Julien Bonnaire's head.

It may well have been accidental, with Flannery attempting to free his leg from the grip of one of the other Clermont players. But, accidental or not, it caused some damage, and if the citing committee sees it as the malicious stamping that some people are calling it, Flannery may well miss the start of Irelands Six Nations Campaign.

Labels: Heineken Cup 2007

nothing malicious in that. just a bad accident

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 2:42 pm
No that was with intent, if you see, the second after he stamps on the head, he's on his way around the ruck, its not like he was being held, it was just blatant thuggery in my opinion.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 2:58 pm
it didnt have intent, his leg was grabbed by a player off his feet. he tried to move to the side of the ruck and defend

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 3:26 pm
He did get his leg held but he must of realised it was a head he was stamping on. Was he cited? Nasty incident.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 3:29 pm
Amazing how the two different angles tell different stories.

The side angle makes it look as dirty as anything ever taped.

The angle from behind (Flannery's goalline) seems to give a bit of creedence to the "freeing himself" argument.

I would agree with Neil though that there was some thuggery to it. As much as he was trying to free himself (the lifting of the leg), the downward pressure is something to be avoided.

Players must take responsibility for their studs, and Flannery should have lost his footing, rather than place them into the guy's face. Maybe a 1-2 game ban, asssuming Flannery has no priors.

Arguably whomever the player that grabbed Flannery's leg (I guess a Clermonter) should also get a ban.

The IRB needs to come down on players who incite flashpoints, not just the retaliators. The typical case for me was Troncon's punch on Stringer in the 6N years ago. Stringer knew what he was doing (at best, a professional foul to keep a player from the ball, at worst, trying to cynicize the game by turning it into a punchfest).

If Troncon deserved 30 days, then Stringer deserved at least something (1 game?) for starting the whole thing.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 3:30 pm
Yes he was cited today!

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 3:58 pm
FOR NEIL THE BRIT. just imagine one of englands blue eyed boys like dallaglio, vickery or shaw in the same scenario?? heaven forbid!! i think the shoe would be on the other foot then. there was no intent. bonnaire should be pissed off with his team mate who grabbed flannerys leg. if it wasnt for that foul bonnaire would be fine. flannery seemed to put a lot of downforce in his left foot becausehe was trying to shuffle right. try it yourself. if you can move right quickly without forcing your left foot down hard you have either a super ability or a serious problem. fook the citing. bonnaire is a big boy and will get over it. he now has a scar to look harder and a good storey for the ladies. everyone is a winner.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 4:34 pm
if anyone thought that stamp was nasty check out JPR Williams playing against the all blacks in 1978. he stitched his own face on the sideline and returned to the field!! bonnaire is a pussy in comparrison.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 4:41 pm
Sick, the first angle shows that he is definately aware of where his foot was coming down especially since he mnaged to lift his leg above his head.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 4:42 pm
Little question: if he got stamped on his right temple...then why is his cut on the left temple???please somebody explain it to me...I'm not trying to start a case here...just curious.
in my opinion it is a very difficult decision...but I wouldnt've cited it...I've seen worse.
Please answer my little question.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 5:17 pm
no..it doesn't seem malicious at all....and I'd like to point out..I've seen worse FOR LESS.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 5:19 pm
Blood is on head's left side... so the accident happened as Flannery lift is leg, not wit the "stamp" on the other side of Bonnaire's head...

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 6:12 pm
As can be clearly seen Flannery had his leg held by a player on the ground. This player would have had a degree of control over Flannery's and in that situation it would be impossible to say that it was an intentional act by Flannery rather than a mere attempt to free his leg, which was being illegally held.

By Unknown, at January 14, 2008 6:47 pm
Whatever...

Flannery is one of my favorite #2, as he plays with heart. But this is tottaly malicious. I'm not saying he was trying to kill the french, but Flannery lost is mind for a second. And he must be penalised for that.

Sorry, Jerry!

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 6:48 pm
he only tried to free his leg because it wa grabbed then he accidentally stamped

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 7:39 pm
the referee was clearly against Clermont in this mat

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 9:15 pm
Was not malicious in my opinion, a little negligent at best. He lifted his leg, tried to move it right, and had it pulled back left by the Clermont player. Not his fault.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 10:05 pm
I'm a Munster fan and a big fan of Jerry Flannery, the guy is full of passion and skill. However, looking at this from a cold-hearted perspective I think hes in trouble.

My initial reaction during the match, when I saw the first replay (where all that can be seen is from Flannerys shorts down) was that it was purely accidental, as he was trying to free his leg.

The key question is, "Was Flannery aware of where Bonnaires head was?"

From the second replay which is zoomed out a bit more and the whole of the ruck is visible, it seems to me that Flannery is looking down and can see Bonnaire. Even if his view is obstructed, watching the clip, at 0.25seconds the side of Flannerys leg (calf area) makes contact with Bonnaires head initally, just before Flannery motions to free his leg and eventually catches Bonnaire with his downward step. Surely he must have felt something against his leg (besides the other guys hand), these are clever guys who've played alot of rugby and have been in 1000's of rucks!

Hes pleading innocent, so giving him the benefit of the doubt I think he should serve the min 2 week suspension.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 10:13 pm
flannery is a vital player for munster and has never had a reputation of being a dirty player so i dont think malice was there....was he suspeneded yet or anything??

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 10:30 pm
RomeRugby said...

"Blood is on head's left side... so the accident happened as Flannery lift is leg, not wit the "stamp" on the other side of Bonnaire's head...'

I think the contact that broke the skin was the heel of his boot, or the back stud of the shoe on the "upstroke".

The downstroke stamp was much more spectacular in that it moved his scrumcap, but I doubt it caused the eyebrow.

Had he simply pulled his foot away from the pile and clipped Bonnaire, I don't think he would have been cited.

Flannery's angry a guy grabbed his leg, and he's losing his balance. If it were Flannery's own teammate underfoot? Put it this way, he would have gone out of his way to avoid clipping him with the boot. That's why I think the citing commissioner will not take that (the leg-bind) for an excuse.

By Anonymous, at January 14, 2008 10:59 pm
I'm a huge Munster fan, couldnt love them more, and flannery is not only a favorite of mine, he plays my position so hes a huge influence

all that needs to be said has been said so i'm just gonna add me 2 cents
i dont think it was an intent to injure or anything like that, he was obviously trying to free his leg from the illegal grasp
this isnt saying that he didnt know he was stomping an opponent, but he was trying to play the game, then some frenchy grasps his leg and prevents the play, jerry knew it was illegal what was being done to him so his way of getting back for it, stomping a clermont player, so yes it was wrong, i would have done a one week ban not two
one thing thats always looked over in citings is these are players being played to play, and to play well, they get emotions running high and all fired up and things like this happen

also i'm glad someone brought up the face stomp that involved stiched back in 78, that was a beauty in a horrible illegal sense haha

also no english people should be commenting here after the recent actions of their star players, in far worse secnarios than this one

even though its illegal, its one of thoose things that show how tough rugby players are, and its good to see the clermont guy taking it like a champ too, even if he is french

and finnaly i just wanna say i agree that the clermont guy who caused it should be issued a warning but not a ban,cause things liek that happen, but he should be warned that he was caught and to watch his illegal actions(not liek i'm a saint in a ruck myself though haha)

keep it up rugbydump, i love you lads haha

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 12:43 am
flannery's a pretty violent guy off the field. wouldn't suprise me if there was intent there

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 12:48 am
i agree with rob, it was an accident, he tried to jolt his leg free of the other player's grip in order to mark the edge of the ruck, and accidentally hit bonnaire...flannery is a hard hitter, but usually legally.

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 12:55 am
I bet he`ll get cited so he would have to miss the wasps game...

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 1:05 am
Imagine only if the player don´t have any protection in the head!

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 2:57 am
He's lucky Cudmore wasn't playing...

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 5:57 am
It was unintentional, no malice, the player holding the leg should be penalised BLAH BLAH BLAH. He knew what he was doing. And about citing the player holding the leg, then what about the player holding Audebert, who was sin binned for a punch ? Shouln't he be cited as well ? pffff....

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 12:18 pm
he should be cited for that. from what i can see, he's shifting himself around the ruck, he feels a hand grab him by the leg, he does NOT at any stage lose his footing but rather lashes out and stamps deliberately in an attempt to free himself. whether or not he knew it was bonnaire's head he was stamping on you can't know but the video clearly shows that he looks down before bringing his foot down so you have to say that it does not look too good for him.
he should've looked a little longer, he might have realised he was stamping on the wrong head.

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 1:23 pm
Painful.

By Don, at January 15, 2008 2:10 pm
The incident would hardly be creating this much debate if it was clear cut. The action is bound to look more severe in slow-motion. At that speed it looks like he absolutely planted his foot on the guys head.

It would be good to see it from a few more clearer shots and at normal speed.

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 2:20 pm
I recon hes tried to stamp on the guys hand who was tugging at him, dont think he realised that bonnaires head was there. Honestly i dnt think Jerry Flannery is a player who wud deleborately stamp on someones head

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 9:09 pm
One thing most rugby players have is a good instinct as to where other players are in those situations. His head brushed up against Flannery leg and after a little consideration we went and stamped on it. That could of been alot worse. Not good.

By AK, at January 15, 2008 11:45 pm
Guys you are way out of line there.. YEs it was intentional, and YES, that's one dirty and dangerous stamp. Flannery should get at least a week..

By Anonymous, at January 15, 2008 11:54 pm
Dont tell me he didnt know what he was doing - the ball was nowhere near Bonnaire, and Flannery just thought he could get away with it as in the days of old. If i was Julien's mum, i would give young Jerry a damn good handbagging, and then sleep with the banning commisssioner and get him sidelined for as long as possible.

By Anonymous, at January 16, 2008 2:45 am
nothing wrong with that , signed danny grewcock

By Anonymous, at January 16, 2008 2:34 pm
I would ask how many people here have been victim of facial injury from stamping?

I was put out of the game for 3weeks with a wound from a deliberate stamp that stretched from my eyelid across my temple almost to my hairline. Was put on strong doses of antibiotics and inti-inflamatries that very nearly cost me my college degree.

Come on guys, if this was really that accidental we would see these incidents all the time! You dont just accidentally stamp peoples heads at rucks! Looking at the force of the downward movement of his leg he knew exactly what he was doing, and Flannery's no angel and never has been...coming from an Irish fan!

By Anonymous, at January 16, 2008 5:01 pm
Crikey, are ye blind? Jerry Flannery was simply trying to disengage from the hold and cover the right side. Most players would have simply slashed down with their hand to break the hold and risked a yellow card, but Jerry Flannery tried to wrench himself free using bodily strength.

Watch the clip again, but look at his hips and both legs as he tries to disengage - don't just focus on his left foot. At the first attempt to disengage, he tries to sidestep right but he is held firm. Seeing that he is held tight, he then tries a second attempt to break free by flexing both knees and jumping to his right. His left leg is still caught and he has no control over where his left foot lands.

(If he was simply going to stamp on yer man's head, he would have braced his right leg to take his weight, and then stamped with his left leg. In reality, since his left leg was held, his most successful chance of deliberate stamping would have been with his free right leg! Cop yourselves on!)

It was an unfortunate contact, but definitely not malicious. The citing is inevitable, but proper scrutiny should see his good name cleared. He is NOT a dirty player. He should NOT be banned at all.

By Anonymous, at January 16, 2008 8:16 pm
Im aware that Flannery was being obstructed but the faraway angle is a give-away. He is clearly looking downwards as he strikes Bonnaire's head with his left boot.

I believe Flannery thought it was Bonnaire that was holding his leg as opposed to his team-mate, an easy mistake to make considering his viewing line (the offending right arm could easily have been mistaken for that of Bonnaire's when seen from Flannery's point of vision)

Any experienced forward would be proficient in similar ruck-time discrepencies (moving the ball from the ruck with your leg while 'trying to roll away' was a personal favourite of mine, when out of sight of the ref!)

I have no doubt that Flan knew what he was doing, and think of why it took so long for him to break through on the Irish provincial circuit - it is well-known that he had discipline problems in his earlier days. Granted, he is not known as a dirty player in recent years, but he still has his moments when he seems to lose control of his composure. But I do respect him for his passion in playing for red and green.

By Anonymous, at January 16, 2008 9:02 pm
dont mind what the bad people are saying jer we still love you

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2008 12:14 am
that is awful

By Anonymous, at January 19, 2008 11:14 am
Blue eyed Dallaglio?

Last I heard, he was one of those organ grinders with a daygo mustache and grizy hare....

I'll take Anal Bum Cover for $500

By Anonymous, at January 22, 2008 12:47 am
He's been banned for 8 weeks, meaning he'll miss the 6 Nations for Ireland. Very harsh decision IMO.

By Anonymous, at January 24, 2008 9:12 pm
its not harsh, you shouldnt stamp on peoples heads

By Anonymous, at January 24, 2008 10:47 pm
yesterday got 8 week ban...bit much really!

By Anonymous, at January 26, 2008 3:11 pm
really nothing malicious about that, jerry missed the 6 natons because of the refs decision. its a case of: should have gone to specsavers for the ref......

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 2:33 pm
Flannery Is Probally The best hooker....."neil the brit" come to limerick and say that!!

By COME-ON-MUNSTER, at April 25, 2008 10:09 pm
Neil The Brit....Come to Limerick and youll find out what tuggary is

By COME-ON-MUNSTER, at April 25, 2008 10:13 pm
Poor, poor Flannery. He must be very unlucky to always be found in this kind of "bad accident". This guy is a coward.

By Dalma, at February 15, 2010 4:51 pm