Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Late tackle on Lifeimi Mafi causes a mass brawl

Monday, March 24, 2008

Late tackle on Lifeimi Mafi causes a mass brawl

Ulster prop Tom Court was yellow carded this weekend for this late shoulder on the flying Munster center Lifeimi Mafi as he attempted to chase his own kick after a great run.

Late, a shoulder charge, and with no effort to pull out of the hit, Court was then dealt with by one of the Munster players, which caused a chain of events that saw virtually the whole team getting involved, giving the front row supporters the best seat in the house.

Referee Alain Rolland restored the calm, sending only Court off his offence, which was probably the correct decision seeing as it's difficult to see if any clean punches landed or were even thrown for that matter.

Apologies for the lack of commentary on this clip.

Very professional from the ref there.

Brought the turmoil to an end very quickly and calmly, and made the right decision.

By Unknown, at March 24, 2008 11:13 pm
Totally agree with the ref...

A$$ of a move by Number 3 on the white...

On the fighting note, 3(white) had his a$$ laid on a plate by number 18(blue) if you pay attention... lol.
Tat's an awesome way to just pi$$ someone off badly & make him your b!tch without even laying any punches, so the ref can't card you!!

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 12:55 am
its just fantastic the way the ref has absolute control on the pitch over the players. so unlike football

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 2:29 am
Yeah nice by O'Callaghan. Fair play to Rory best though for going in, you wouldn't expect to see him getting involved in this stuff. LOve the way John Hayes is always the peacemaker in these situations...he's the biggest bloke on the pitch bar Buckley !

Whats with all the football-bashing on this website ? Are We that insecure about the game we love ? Give it a rest !!!

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 2:32 am
It's not bashing football "third centre". It's just a case of a total lack of respect for the authoritive figures as highlighted this weekend and last in "soccer".

Great clip as always RD.

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 3:46 am
Agree with all the comments so far, excellent refereeing.

Piece of dead set stupidity by the prop, could have almost warranted a red card.

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 8:45 am
totally agree with the other comments about the ref. the prop was way to late and it didnt even look like a decent tackle or even a charge down. what gets me though, if that were football about 3 people would of been sent off. he was lucky only to get 10 in the bin. got to love this game.

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 9:18 am
who said a few months ago that we only see this kind of things in the French Top 14??? I finally get my revenge :) We French are not the only dirty players in the game...

By Threma, at March 25, 2008 9:20 am
I thought a red was in order for that not for the late charge but for the laying down on the floor afterwards to try and cover up what he had done.Thats about as cynical as you can get, love his "he still had the ball" bleat to the ref.

Top work by the ref, didnt see any real punches thrown either people are wising up to the threat of getting cited I guess.

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 9:35 am
Aliain Rolland is the best ref out there by far he really handled this well.

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 11:00 am
The prop wanted to tackle Mafi, but then he chipped so the prop late hitted him. Do you guys think he wouldn't get yellow carded if he had placed his arms?

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 11:33 am
well handled by the ref, i think ulster just got a bit pissed off as we were kicking their asses so badly :)

By James, at March 25, 2008 2:44 pm
I actually prefer it without the commentary.

flanker, he probably would have just gotten a penalty.

I doubt it was truly malicious.... he's a prop. It was probably easier for him to just use Mafi to stop then actually exert effort to slow down. And do you think a 10-minute rest is really a punishment for a front-rower?

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 3:07 pm
Third player really had little excuse to get into Court's face. The TJ clearly put his flag up right away to mark the incident.

As for Court's hit. The lateness itself was cynical, a professional foul, worthy of the yellow.
Additionally, the intensity of the contact was severe -- pure shoulder charge, no attempt to cushion the blow.
It was borderline red IMHO.

Great mgmt by Rolland.

By Cheyanquí, at March 25, 2008 4:27 pm
Ah derbies like this always get pretty heated. Can't wait for Leinster v. munster. Allez les bleus !

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 5:36 pm
i suppose it was a bit of revenge for what O'Callaghan did to Ulster last time. terrible hit by Court he's also a terrible player and doesn't do any work walks never even attempts to jog.

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 6:33 pm
What did O'Callaghan do last time ? Was that were he started a fight in the middle of a ruck ? The big lovable dope

By Anonymous, at March 25, 2008 11:16 pm
Roland is a great ref

By Anonymous, at March 26, 2008 3:11 pm
I'm not really a rugby expert.
And some of you will maybe say, shut up then :) .

But I think there should have been some red cards, for those who got involved in the fight.
It’s not normal that they behave like savages

By Anonymous, at March 26, 2008 7:51 pm
the said thing is Court was having a good game up to that point: he scrummaged well, made some good tackles and was ok in the loose but it was just stupid the hit but the referee didn't superbly well to calm the situation. Donkey O Callaghan just made the situation worse tbh he didn't need to get involved

By Anonymous, at March 27, 2008 1:21 am
i dont have a problem with anything there

late hit, started a fight, nothing to surprising

what gets me is the damn touch judges! its like back in grade school with certain kid who'd tell the teachers everything, they are these guys standing at the side of the field, telling the ref who did what trying to et them carded

bull if you ask me, let it be, card for who started it and leave it there, rest was defending a teammate

By Anonymous, at March 27, 2008 10:00 pm
If there is about to be a "flashpoint" in the match, a good TJ would have told the 3rd man in a warning.

"NO #18! I saw IT and I see YOU"

This is a point in time where you actually WANT the TJ to speak loudly and let the player know the incident was seen and so will his retaliation.

By Cheyanquí, at March 28, 2008 5:03 pm
good fight, the ref handled it well.
PS: All of these foreign players playing for munster wont be good for the development of Irish rugby, which is already in decline.

By Anonymous, at March 30, 2008 12:58 am
was at this match - the ulster fans were so loud when this fight broke out, i was really disappointed with the home support.

By Anonymous, at March 31, 2008 3:19 pm