Saw the Puletula one earlier today. The guy was marking the runner BUT when the runenr changes his angle, he set himself, crouched, prepared for impact and then lefted his shoulder as the hit went in. Contact with the head. Definite red.

You might want to [imake that easier to understand for the lesser educated[/i

What medical evidence? What evidence says shoulder charges that do NOT hit a player in the head need to be outlawed? And if you want them banned you ARE in the minority. The poll on LU has 87% against banning shoulder charges. That's because 87% of RL supporters know that to ban all shoulder charges because some hit players in the head is as stupid as banning ALL tackles because some hit players in the head. Not only that but the players themselves don't want them banned. And if you want to play the "they'll sue" card then every single injury ever caused by any event in any sport could be make sport just as liable. So this crap about litigation is utter nonsense.

Nice one. Generous 6 out of 10.

'Real rugby league people don't have an interest in anything other than Rugby League'!

There's me thinking it would be great for the sport to shed it's insular inward looking image to attract more fans. Of course, real rugby league people [idon't want no outsiders comin round these ere parts[/i!

Brilliant

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Brilliant Post!

nice post well phrased

As Brisbane says, there's no need to ban shoulder charges so long as they're penalised and punished rightly when there is a dangerous shoulder charge.
The Puletua one was the correct decision, unfortunate for Puletua, but if he wants to use his shoulder like that he's going to have to be more careful.

sorry guys this was a good topic ETC taking a 7 day break for swearing and abuse can we get back on topic or it will be locked thank you

Our game is now a summer sport, are you suggesting that we should all go and sit in a cupboard during winter, so that we're not tainted by these other sports. Get real, I've followed my team for 50 years, and see nothing wrong with transferring my allegiance to a local non-league football team whilst my first choice are in off-season. Your opinion seems to be that I, and many like me, are not real rugby league people.

PMSL

Don't worry. The man in the white coat will be here with your meds soon!

Without RU we wouldn't have had players like Tony Myler, Dave Myers, Jonathan Davies, John Devereux, Martin Offiah, Emosi Koloto, Alan Tait, Paul Moriarty et al gracing TGG. That's just at Widnes.

IMO a shoulder charge is very difficult to perform at high speed whilst 'guaranteeing' you don't hit your opponent in the head. That is the reason I believe it should be outlawed........not to mention the fact that a high proportion of these hits result in the player not being held and a gap in the defensive line is opened up for the opposition to exploit. If anyone wants to see these, then maybe they should swith their allegiance to WWE/WWF

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Puletua could quite easily avoided being sent off by just bending his back, poor lazy technique.

I've seen the Greg Inglis one today for the first time and it was an absolute shocker. I like a good shoulder charge as much as anyone but with the speed of todays game the risk of severe injury is something that the RFL and NRL has to consider as player welfare has to be their main priority.

Quite ironic how the new Rugby League Live PS3 / XBox game trailer includes several shoulder charges!!

It's not real!

Agree with everything BR said. Shoulder charges are fine, as long as they aren't high tackles. If they are shots to the head, then they are a straight red card, just as a swinging arm would be.

I do have some sympathy that, much like two-footed challenges in soccer, they should be banned precautionarily. However, I think most players can make a shoulder charge legally, but they will have to be more careful. Head high tackles should carry serious ban time, i.e. 5-6 games, rather than the 1 or 2 they get at the moment.

What i'm more concerned about atm is tip-tackles, where we've seen a few go unpunished in the last year. These are incredibly dangerous, and should be given the automatic penalty of straight red cards, even if players pull them off ok. The Jeff Lima tackle on Brett Delaney in last years CC final, for instance, was an absolute shocker, with not even a penalty given.

Just watched the incident for the first time, after reading 6 pages on here and then seeing the incident, I can't see what the fuss is about. It wash,t even a shoulder charge more of a shoulder defensive block.
Mounis definitley dips less than a second before impact as though he was in surrender mode, how on earth is Puletua supposed to react in that space of time, the only reaction he made was too push the player after impact with both forearms.
A red card was another embarrassing decision during that game, not sure if you can even call it a penalty, we will see a lot worse than this, bad day at the office by the officials and the disciplinary in endorsing it as a charge.

A Shoulder Defensive Block?

It was a shoulder charge, which is a tackle that can be quite dangerous, I have been responsible for broken ribs when using the shoulder charge and it's been banned for years in RU.

However, it's not a tackle that I would like to see banned as the injuries are rare. I don't think it was a sending off but it's not far from being one, the charge is debatable in my opinion. But I agree bad day at the office, the favour that Saint's seem to have in the game is what won the game for Saint.

How can it be a shoulder charge when Puletua wasn't moving? He moves laterally and then plants his feet and sets himself for the collision, bending his back slightly. Yes, he leans into the collision as Mounis hits him but the only one charging anywhere and the person who dictates where contact is made, is Mounis.

I've said it before. The only one to blame is Mounis. He's showing the ball and not looking at the defender in front of him. When he realises he's heading straight into a brick wall he dips slightly and that's what caused the hit to the head. Puletua does nothing wrong for me.

I assume all those calling this a red card would have sent Morley off for that infamous hit on Hansen a few years ago? Morley was charging in at speed and clearly aimed his shoulder at the head, yet no punishment?

Thats how I saw it from the replay, TP,s feet is almost static, it looked as though Mounis had in that split second had surrendered by dipping his head just before impact. Mounis if he had any honour should have spoke up in TP,s defence.
In reality the match officials have messed up in potentially losing the game for the catalans and cheating a player from making the next match appearance.

www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/n ... 6302126454 "NRL club doctors yesterday welcomed any move to ban the shoulder charge, comparing their force to that of a car accident. Cronulla and Australia team doctor Dave Givney said shoulder charges could lead to many medical problems. "Everyone talks about the warrior-like aspects of the game and you don't want to take too much of that away but shoulder charges cause a lot of problems," Givney said. "If they come off properly they look spectacular but the number of combatants that hurt their shoulders doing a shoulder charge is almost as many as the number of people that get rib injuries on the receiving end."

www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/n ... 6302126454 "NRL club doctors yesterday welcomed any move to ban the shoulder charge, comparing their force to that of a car accident. Cronulla and Australia team doctor Dave Givney said shoulder charges could lead to many medical problems. "Everyone talks about the warrior-like aspects of the game and you don't want to take too much of that away but shoulder charges cause a lot of problems," Givney said. "If they come off properly they look spectacular but the number of combatants that hurt their shoulders doing a shoulder charge is almost as many as the number of people that get rib injuries on the receiving end."

Of course the doctors want it banned...on medical advice we would play RL at all!

99 times out of a 100, is you get by a shoulder charge its because you're not concentrating on what's happening in front of you. I've been hit with shoulder charges before, and I've only ever blamed myself.

Seemed to be a bit of"claret" around his nose. If had been RU I would have thought it could have been HEINZ.

On back chat Stevo said "the Rfl are banning it from tomorrow" did I hear that right?