Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: CJ van der Linde headbutt on Sam Cordingly

Monday, August 25, 2008

CJ van der Linde headbutt on Sam Cordingly

Springbok tighthead prop CJ van der Linde has been cited for a head butt following Australia's 27-15 victory over South Africa in Durban on Saturday. The result of the hearing is due to be announced later today.

Flying into a ruck head first, Wallaby scrumhalf Sam Cordingly received a bullet-like head square in the face, and was probably lucky to have not been badly injured.

Watching it again, it's difficult to comprehend exactly what Van der Linde's intentions were, as his shoulder, arms, and the rest of his body were nowhere near making contact with his target. Clearing out a player aggressively is one thing, leading with your head is another. He should know better.

Van der Linde was lucky to escape being sent off so early in the match, as the incident happened right in front of referee Lyndon Bray, who was probably too shocked to fully comprehend what he just saw. Bray did give a penalty though, which resulted in an easy three points for the visitors.

Utter stupidity I'm afraid, and Van der Linde now faces a disciplinary hearing and is sure to be on the sidelines for a good few weeks, ruling out the rest of his Tri Nations, compounding the Springbok's misery after their poor showing on the weekend.

Australian loose forward, and Man of the Match, Rocky Elsom was also cited after being penalised four minutes into the second half when he pulled Springbok captain Victor Matfield down in a line-out.

It looked fairly innocuous, but Matfield came down awkwardly and in a bizarre repeat of the John Smit/Brad Thorn incident, has twinged his groin, possibly ruling him out of next weekend's Ellis Park clash.

We'll await the disciplinary hearing rulings, and if Elsom does actually get suspended, which I doubt will happen, then we'll get the video up for you to see anyway.

As for CJ, expect nothing less than a two week suspension for his moment of madness.

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UPDATE:
Van der Linde has received a one month suspension. He denied targeting the head of Cordingly., but did acknowledge that it was an illegal and dangerous attempt to clear out.

Rocky Elsom has been handed a one week ban for his illegal tackling of Matfield in the lineout. After a video review, the offence was viewed as dangerous, resulting in the suspension.

PLEASE NOTE: This video has been removed by Mediazone, who own the rights to the footage and no longer allow us to use it. Apologies from our side.

Time: 02:20

He made a bad bad mistake and you could see it on his face. I hope he only gets one week for it because you can see how disappointed he was with himself after the incident. On a side note, this is why South Africans get such a bad rap at times. I work with a few guys from RSA and they are nice blokes but I have to say they also agree... While there is nothing better than putting in a solid hit legally, illegal stuff like this is just not on.
Robbie – Australian through and through

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 1:30 pm
He was lucky to not get a yellow card

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 1:58 pm
haha good to see the epi taoine links up!!

exactly what i was thinking he took a leaf outa epis book...just wasnt red carded and have to miss 6 matches hehe

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 2:19 pm
i agree he needed at least a yellow
the south african commentators annoyed me at this point, they said, "oh cj is just clearing out, cordingley shouldn't have been in there anyway"
so when epi taoine headbutts someone, his club kick him out, but when cj does it, its fine
and people complain that aussie commentators are biased

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 2:31 pm
James... that sounded bias to you??
They even said there that he can't 'sheriff' things himself and that he didn't use his shoulder, he used his head!! They also said he's lucky to not get a yellow card. What more do you want?

I watched the game with Aussie commentary on the weekend and let me tell you, THEY were appalling. At one point Greg Martin yelled 'TUQIRIIII!!' so loud I had to turn the volume down.

I still can't believe how dumb this was from CJ though. Not only dumb, but dangerous and he deserves a harsh punishment imo.

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 4:31 pm
that was a straight red. i've seen teeth smashed and worse after hits like that. the ref can take it as a direct criticism if the panel ban him as he ought to have been sent off.

By Skip, at August 25, 2008 4:41 pm
Straight red. No questions asked.

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 5:39 pm
i think that's surely to penalize with 1-2 week ban..
but my question is why he will be banned for the future and he wouldn't have banned for the match? and this happens often with spear or high tackle and IMHO it's not right!
I would have red carded him!and than 1 week ban!
headbutts are very dangerous and the victim could miss some matches due to consequences (broken cheek or something)so the supension is unavoidable!

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 6:23 pm
Everyone gets carried away with emotion and agggression at some point in a game, particularly when the pressure is on (as it is on the Boks), so I don't think we should be too judgemental on VD Linde. However, there does need to be some consistency in how such incidents are treated - this was at least as bad as Taione's effort, if not worse, and the punishment should reflect that.

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 6:33 pm
Went in with the shoulder? No way. That's an absolute straight headbutt. Definite one match suspension IMO.

As for commentators being biased, I don't think there's one who isn't. NZers are the worst though..Lol

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 7:44 pm
standard dirty saffas! why they argue with people calling them dirty players is beyond me?!

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 9:40 pm
i think if you look at his first attempt to clear out his shoulders hit cordingley's shoulders and he isnt doing anything wrong but cordingley pops his head up and thats where it looks bad on CJ, i dont think it was intentional but i cant judge that
unhappy to see such a poor tri nations from SA

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 10:05 pm
Yeah, a momentary rush of blood eh?

Go re-watch the RWC pool match against Samoa and watch him pull the same trick on Henry Tuilagi. Got him straight in the face while "entering" a ruck. Watch later in the match and he does the same thing again. The commentator Mannix certainly saw the second one.

Now go watch the QF against Fiji and see if you can find the spot in the second half where van der Linde dives head first into the face of a Fijian player on the ground at the side of a ruck.

I have seen him do it in other matches , although i don't recall the exact details.

Every time its the same technique - drop the arms and dive with the head into/over a ruck while feigning to join the ruck legally.

Its completely cynical and I am amazed that this is the first time he has been penalised for it.

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 10:18 pm
Ouch thats got to hurt. One stupid moment that will cost him a couple of matches...

By Anonymous, at August 25, 2008 11:30 pm
Benson
my mistake, i only remembered the commentators from the match on the weekend, and didn't bother to watch again before i commented, so i realize that they were actually being fair
i still reckon they are pretty biased though, but i guess all commentators are

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 12:08 am
Immediate red, no one could complain, worse than Epi's headbutt

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 12:37 am
"lucky not to get a yellow" .........lucky not to get a straight red! i guess maybe the refs line of sight may have been obscured and it might have looked like a shoulder.....im not sure though!

Still, very very lucky it wasnt a straight red......

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 1:24 am
As an AB fan living in Australia, I get together every weekend with Bok and Wallaby supporting friends to watch the games.

While NZ commentators are at times inane (Murray Mexted usually embarasses himself at least twice a match), nobody takes the cake for biased commentary as much as the Australian commentators. They are so partisan that they make my Aussie friends blush with embarrassment. I actually prefer to watch the games with the volume turned down. I quite like the Bok commentators: regardless of which team it is, they seem to be "old-school" with a love of physical play (be it borderline dirty or not).

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 2:57 am
good on ya cj i aspire to be as hard and cheap as you phycologically defeating them wether it gives 3 points

id like to see cordingly stick his little hands in to steal sa's ball, he wont even try!

good on ya cj

greg martin, rod kafer and the bunch suck, bias wankers!!

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 9:00 am
cordingly knew he shouldnt have been trying to steal the SA ball just like the rest of the aussie loosies - getting away with it the whole game. love his little face just before he sees CJ coming at him! pricess...

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 11:19 am
good on ya juan smith ... you are already as cheap as you aspire to be and those people who are "phycologically" defeated (whatever that means) are laughing at you.

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 11:24 am
just one incident of foul play from the saffas in this game, later george smith was furious after burger deployed the squirell grip

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 11:34 am
haha some Zimbok media are calling it a "head lunge". F*ck me, nice politically correct way to downplay a head butt you cheap SOBs. The beatings you are getting are much deserved!

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 12:16 pm
Jackie...i think you need to ease up onf the caffine partner..lol..or better yet have a bran muffin, that should open you up...make you feel better...lol..

It wont be lone before the BOKs right their ship, then we'll be back to spanking everyone. And just an FYI, i dont agree with ol CJ's actions buuuut i love to see that the ol skool shadyness/hardcore aspects of the game havent been totally removed from the players DNA (well not in SA anyway)...lol..

Holla..

By semperfimamba, at August 26, 2008 4:54 pm
Expected a week suspension but he got four instead.

Jordan, no one needs to look closely to tell it's a definite head butt...no shoulders involved so stop trying to downplay this

By Anonymous, at August 26, 2008 7:00 pm
The aussie commentators are supporters of wallabies, but I don't think they are over biased; in fact, it seems to me like they enjoy watching more than anything, sometimes I even feel like they have been sampling the sponsorship libation. The NZ are totally in the tank for ABs though, only the most flagrant fouls by the ABs get a mention but they rail against other teams for their tactics or indiscretions. Just watch a NZ AUS match and compare how they talk about smith and mccaw. McCaw will be off his feet scooping the ball back and they'll say "great play" but cll smith for being cynical for keeping his hand in a formed ruck.

By Anonymous, at August 27, 2008 12:47 am
it's not just the nz commentators that richie has fooled, he's got the referees as well!

By Anonymous, at August 27, 2008 12:54 am
Sam Cordingly -

"When he struck me in the game I knew that it was with his head, but did not know at the time if it was an accident," the 32-year-old said to Independent Newspapers this week.

"The first time he had come at me I had seen him coming, and before the second occasion I started to back away because the referee told me to release the ball, so luckily it was more of a glancing blow than a direct strike.

"(But) there was not a lot of that stuff. While you had the impression that the Boks were very anxious to win, the game was more physical (as opposed to foul) than anything else. The breakdowns were very physical. It was very much the sort of Test you expect in South Africa, whether they are on a losing streak or a winning one."

By Anonymous, at August 27, 2008 7:05 pm
"He denied targeting the head of Cordingly."

ROTFLMFAO

By Anonymous, at August 27, 2008 9:36 pm
Well for whatever reason - that was wrong and deserves to be punished - come Bokke dont listen to what the Coach says - we dont need to play illegal to win. We are better than that!

By Anonymous, at August 28, 2008 9:31 am
what game was the ref watching, he said "illegal hit with shoulder" what???? did he not see the flying headbutt haha

By Anonymous, at August 30, 2008 12:46 pm
what a douche

By Anonymous, at September 01, 2008 6:16 am