Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Aled Brew spear tackle goes unpunished against Glasgow Warriors

Friday, September 17, 2010

Aled Brew spear tackle goes unpunished against Glasgow Warriors

Newport Gwent Dragons players Aled Brew and Scott Morgan were both cleared of any wrong doing following their tumultuous encounter with Glasgow Warriors on Sunday. Brew seemingly spear tackled DTH Van Der Merwe, but has been cleared of any wrong doing.

Both Brew and forward Morgan had been cited following incidents in the game. Morgan was accused of striking an opponent, but video evidence revealed that there was nothing in it. Brew on the other hand, made this dangerous tackle yet wasn’t carded, let alone penalised, at the time.

Glasgow coach Sean Lineen was furious and afterwards stated that the Welsh touch judges failed to act as they should, calling for neutral assistants to be put in place. Dragons coach Paul Turner then said that they were concerned about these comments, putting further pressure on the Welsh Rugby Union disciplinary panel.

The hearing took place yesterday and although Brew was found guilty of a dangerous tackle, a WRU statement said that the offence should have been dealt with by a penalty or a yellow card. That means that it was not considered a red card offence, the criterion which would have allowed the panel to slap a suspension on him.

Both Morgan and Brew will be free to play this weekend, as the Dragons meet the Cardiff Blues in the Magners League.

This clip, with Gaelic commentary, shows the little battle Brew and Van Der Merwe had, with a scuffle breaking out and then Van Der Merwe returning to the field after being yellow carded, only to be dumped by Brew a minute or so later.

Time: 01:45

germany!

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 5:33 pm
the brew tackle is no worse than the spear tackle morne steyn did a few years ago for the bulls which got him a red.

Brew is a very lucky boy.

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 5:40 pm
LMAO ... 14 making contact towards the winger's face...
GOUGING GOUGING .... 8 Years of ban should be applied..;
Oh no wait he ain't french nor his name is Dupuy...
He got what he deserved... yellow.

By jay, at September 17, 2010 5:45 pm
lol - gaylick

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 5:46 pm
Hmm Van der Merwe seemed to make some kind of eye goughing there...

And Brew's tackle didn't look that bad, van der Merwe landed on his back, not in his neck.

All this citing and booking and suspensions stuff needs to get sorted. Tackles from Steyn ,de Villiers, Ranger and Cooper got punished in the TN, and this doesn't...

Weird, huh?

By Juggernauter, at September 17, 2010 6:00 pm
More inconsistent crap from citings...don't get me wrong, I see nothign wrong with the tackle, but I would rate it worse than Steyns as here the tackler appears to much more delberately lift the letgs and then drive down - the tackled player's movements are the only reason this wasn't more serious. And they are supposed to not decide based on the outcome of the tackle...witchcraft I tell you...

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 6:14 pm
Lineen is a fool,he wants neutral touch judges but goes on 2 say this... "Lineen denied a suggestion that his own side might have enjoyed any favours from Scottish touch judges at their home games in Glasgow. He said: "No, I think the Scottish touch judges are the most honest of the lot."

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 6:14 pm
he had it coming going round slapping with his handbag

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 6:18 pm
not even a spear tackle

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 6:19 pm
Scottish refs are. there twice as hard on scottish players to avoid seeming biased...

By alasdair, at September 17, 2010 6:35 pm
how did he escape a ban for that?! just because no-one was injured doesnt mean it wasnt dangerous etc. plus tom willis had a punch and brew seemed to be the instigator of the first incident. im not a happy bunny

By sambo, at September 17, 2010 6:58 pm
Big question marks over the quality of the the refereeing so far(the Scots are rubbish)..but have to say this wasn't a yellow card he picked him up and landed him safely and didn't drop him!!

By Unknown, at September 17, 2010 7:42 pm
if Stowers' tackle was a red, this definitely was!
May be bias as I dislike the Welsh, but the rule is nothing past 90 degrees, which this obviously was.

As for the VDM yellow, Brew carried on after the whistle, got pushed away in the face... was a penalty at most

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 7:55 pm
I agree with Billy, the rules say if you accompany the player to the ground it's not a spear. To be a spear you have to turn the guy upside down while still on your feet, then it's a yellow whether you fall with him or not...so I found out the hard way, got a yellow and didn't even mean it!

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 7:57 pm
No, if you lift a players legs above the horizontal and drive him to the ground (mainly the lifting action), then it's considered a 'tip tackle', and dangerous. We saw enough of it in the Tri Nations to realise that by now. I'm shocked that this wasn't even penalised (based on recent decisions).

By Benson, at September 17, 2010 8:05 pm
Spear tackle - only luck meant he landed on his side. The intent was to hurt the player in retribution. Red card.

By andyboy, at September 17, 2010 9:21 pm
honestly what language is the commentator speaking?

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 11:23 pm
That would have gotten 2 weeks during the tri-nations.

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2010 11:57 pm
The only thing consistent about referees decisions these days are inconstancies... kinda starting to spoil games.

-KG

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 12:05 am
nameless one: i presume Scots Gaelic (certainly not Welsh or Irish - ie Irish Gaelic)

By mise, at September 18, 2010 12:19 am
he probably got away with it cause the player landed on his back, but that was the tackled player being strong,
brew turned him and drove down on his back.
should have been at least yellow
shame he does this sort of thing occasionally cause he can be a good player

By mat, at September 18, 2010 12:27 am
It's Scots Gaelic.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 12:50 am
the commentator is a welsh rite?
and yeah, it is clearly look worse than stower's tackle. yellow card and 4 weeks of ban

By know, at September 18, 2010 12:57 am
14 got exactly what he deserved. for a start he acted like a muppet in the 1st place and got yellowed. then he ran into brew up right and with no pace...basically he was asking to get dumped on his arse...eventho he technically got dumped on his head.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 1:46 am
its scots gaelic-(pronounced gallic while irish is pronounced gaelic) good to see that the celtic league games are shown in the celtic languages.-we all know about S4C and welsh but are any of the games shown in Irish at all?

tackle was fine i reckon-very close to being placed horizontal. Probably deserved a yellow though, but better retribution than Glasgows wingers pathetic handslap anyway. Current form Brew should be in wales squad.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 2:14 am
great tackle

By rico, at September 18, 2010 3:15 am
Guys are talking about oh he tackled him safely, the way it looks VDM used his core to avoid a faceplant, he was nearly upside down at 1 point.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 4:06 am
Some pretty crap comments on here. Amazing how a spear immediately becomes less dangerous because it was put in by a hometown boy.

Its incontrovertibly a spear tackle and you are all total hypocrites.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 7:17 am
That was barely a spear tackle.
Just to be on the safe side, I agree with the penalty, it was bordering on dangerous.
But a penalty is enough, it was only marginally a spear.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 8:21 am
to the above:
it is not marginally a spear. if the tackled player had not put out his arm, he would have landed on his head/neck and who knows what would have been the consequences.
and because this was obviously a case of retribution the ref might have been a little tougher on this one.

By dutchrugbyplayer, at September 18, 2010 11:33 am
language is Welsh

tackle dubious

Scottish refs bad

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 11:56 am
its Gaelic, even says it if u read the text fools. and Sambo tom willis is injured so dont know what ur on about?

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 1:51 pm
I don't think it can be classed as a spear tackle, but it is a dangerous tackle and I'm very surprised that Brew hasn't been banned.

Van der Merwe is a very easy player to wind up - Brew gave him a bit of niggle and Van der Merwe reacted. Ospreys wound him up last season too and he was lucky not to be sent off then after trying to plant a couple on Holah. I don't know why more teams don't do it.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 2:15 pm
Just for info, the various Gaelic/Celtic languages are pretty ancient compared with a fairly new language like English. The three oldest European literatures are claimed to be Greek, Latin and Irish (Gailge).

On a slightly ^^ more relevant note, the guy who punches Merwe in the face coming in third was lucky not to be carded/cited, and the 'spear' was dodgy enough to merit some form of punishment at least.

And finally, EVERY time there is a disciplinary thing on RD, will we have some French clown complaining about Attoub and Dupuy? Julien Dupuy that is - you know the guy, the stupidest and most definitely guilty gouger in the history of gouging...

By Mike, at September 18, 2010 2:20 pm
I don't see how people think that tack is fine / isn't a spear tackle. He picks the player up, turns him way past horizontal (basically until the player is perpendicular to the floor) and drives him downward. The player may not have landed on his head (due to his own actions, not the tackler's), but he was quite clearly driven head first into the ground, and with plenty of force.

-KG

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 2:34 pm
I'm 1/2 French, and hearing people complain about the punishments of French players is embarrassing. Particularly Dupuy. Please stop, you make us look stupid.

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 2:36 pm
As has been said, there really are some idiots on here!

@ Billy "Scots are crap"? Where are you from exactly? This Glasgow team (well some of it) finished 3rd in the league last season and would have made the final were it not for the cheating Welsh Ospreys props debacle (seeing a trend ocurring here).

Also, regardless of whether you believe they should be allowed or not, the fact remains thiswas clearly a spear tackle of the higher end of the scale going by the rules. Picked up, turned practically 180 degrees, and clearly driven into the ground with intent. What about that is not a spear tackle? As some have said, should DTH allow himself to land on his head so as to ensure Brew gets penalised? Get a grip!

As for DTH's Yellow, what did he do? He pushed the guy away flat palm, no different form a hand off except outside of play and only that after sever provocation, and then the big fat proppy type comes in and lands a punch on him and nothing!

Compare this to what Morgan got off with (would be nice to hav that clip too) and it's a bloody joke how biased the touch judges were. Morgan was throwing punches at Forrester, then the two went to ground, morgan on top, and he landed an uppercut somewhere on him. The only problem was you could see where the punch actually landed form the camera angle which is probably the excuse they used to let him off! Ref stops play, asks the touch judge what happened, touch judge replies something along the lines of "er...i didn't see but it was a scuffle so id recommend a penalty against Glasgow".

Total joke!

And also, if you doubt the impartiality of Scottish touch judges, then look no further than last nights game. I lost count of the number of things, especially at scrum time that they could have called against Connacht and didn't. We really are too honest for our own good!

By Believer, at September 18, 2010 3:43 pm
anonymous said:"scots gaelic-(pronounced gallic while irish is pronounced gaelic) good to see that the celtic league games are shown in the celtic languages.-we all know about S4C and welsh but are any of the games shown in Irish at all?"

yes,the irish channel tg4(teilifis na gaillimhe)shows magners league matches in GAEILGE(thats is irelands native language)

By Leeners93, at September 18, 2010 4:48 pm
alasdair
the ref was itallian u twat

By Anonymous, at September 18, 2010 8:52 pm
unfortunately it seems that some rugby player or other must have his neck broken during such a tackle before we all agree how dangerous it really is

By irish ref, at September 19, 2010 1:09 am
I am amazed at how many people don't believe this to have been dangerous! People have been paralysed in far softer tackles, if this happened to you or one of your team mates, for a split second (the point where the Glasgow player was more or less completely upside down) you would be worried for your own spine.

Allowing tackles like that does no favours to the game. It puts lives in danger, in encourages games to get more heated (at which point they invariably deteriorate) and most importantly for the development of the game, it really discourages new people joining a sport that by too many is considered a game for meat-heads, which any true rugby fan knows it isn't.

By Anonymous, at September 19, 2010 3:16 am
The #14 should only have got a penalty at most against him, Brew should have got a red card.

By Unknown, at September 20, 2010 7:20 am
11 black saying to 14 white ''if you punch me i'll wait 10 minutes till your back on the pitch and dunk ya into the ground''.
right job too.

By Anonymous, at September 20, 2010 1:44 pm
at least no-one's denying it happened,,unlike a certain spear tackle 60 seconds into a certain lions vs all blacks test match...

By Anonymous, at September 20, 2010 1:47 pm
hello all - agree with Benson and others - tackle was a spear tackle as described within the roles of the game. Brew should have been carded (yellow or red) and maybe cited.....

As an England supporter/neutral as regards this game I thought that was a bloody poor decision by the ref. Especially when you see the softness of some of the yellow-card decisions within the tri-nations this year....come on refs where is the consistency..

By NiWiTa, at September 20, 2010 2:16 pm
The ref was Italian

The touch judges were Welsh and are always biased this is just another example hence Lineens complaint

Brew did frustrate DTH who is a bit of a hot head and reacted.

Brew spear tackled DTH and the touch judge did nothing - shock me!

DTH unlike players these days (mostly Welsh) played on and presented the ball - Lee Byrne would have play acted like he was going for an oscar.

The Welsh are becoming a right pain in the arse - first the Ospreys getting away with blatant cheating which allowed them to win the league last year followed up with constant contraversy over officiating decisions and citing rulings - they are biased and a liability and something should be done about it.

The other Magners League teams are reviewed fairly but the Welsh ow no, they've got to protect their boys! Pish.

Why we don't have neutral touch judges is beyond me, this is a professional rugby league and they can't even stump up the costs for neutral officiating - it begs belief.

Matt, Glasgow

By Anonymous, at September 20, 2010 2:22 pm
most Glasgow and Edinburgh games are broadcast live on BBC Alba, the Ghaidlig language channel, in Scottish Gaelic.

I think BBC Cymru has a similar arrangement for Welsh teams ach chan eil mi a' coimhead BBC Cymru.

By Anonymous, at September 20, 2010 3:50 pm
Ridiculous!!!! DTH is yellow cared for that little bit of hand bag stuff then nothing for a blatant spear tackle. The citing commissioner needs to cite both the referee (who was in the frame to make the call) and welsh touchy for gross dereliction of duty.

By Unknown, at September 21, 2010 5:47 am
Hey it's welsh commentary by the way.

By Anonymous, at September 22, 2010 12:06 am
Doesn't matter on whether the tackled player landed on upper back or neck, there's really no distance between the two and due to the fact that the legs of the tackled player were above his head during the tackle - that's a spear tackle. Tackler should have been sent off and cited.

By Andy, at October 26, 2010 2:15 pm