Joe Mbu was sent from the touchlines yesterday after he was judged to have hit a non-playing member of the Doncaster bench following a fracas on the pitch in the Dons win over the Skolars yesterday.

Is their any precedent for punishments for coaches entering an opposition technical area to punch someone?

Also, while I have never been his biggest fan after his abject spell at Doncaster he did not strike me (no pun intended) as aggressive; is this out of character for the self proclaimed Christian or does anyone who knows him better think he has previous?

This is highly unlike the Joe that used to play for us, shocked about this, wondered what would of occured, as as far as i'm aware, he has no previous.

Probably best to wait for the disciplinary.

Obviously the 4th official will have been in the vicinity and the incident may be on video, although if there was also an incident on the field it may have been focused on that.

Is there anyone else called tim who has a view on this?

Where's tim3 when you need him?

He's busy having a word with Tim 4.

If there is one thing that history has shown us it is that religious people are not afraid to strike people if they believe they are in the right!

There shouldn't be a problem with the video coverage as it didn't happen until the incident on the field moved into the Doncaster technical area.

True, but if he was following the George W Bush method, he'd have been more likely to hit someone on his own side

If he is found guilty then he should be banned from coaching for life.

Sparked a mass brawl by all accounts from the people at Donny. An altercation near the touch line, Meant Mbu attacked a Donny player. Then it was 1 in, All in. A terrible advert for the game

If true.

I'm intrigued that "tim2" joined RLFans three and a half years before "tim". (If the user name "tim" wasn't taken then why "tim2"?)

Anyhow, back on topic, I saw nearly every home game Joe Mbu played for London/Quins over about five seasons, plus a fair few away, and I don't recall ever seeing him get involved in any sort of confrontaion or slanging match; it sounds totally out of character and makes me wonder what might have prompted it. I strongly suspect someone on the other side didn't exactly cover himself in glory even if Joe let himself down by reacting violently.

London Skolars coaches Joe Mbu and Oliver Bloom have been handed six-month touchline bans - three months of which are suspended - after they were involved in a brawl.

The 27-year-old Mbu, a former Harlequins forward who retired from playing at the end of the 2009 season, was shown the red card by referee Peter Brooke for his part in a touchline flare-up during the closing stages of the Skolars' 42-22 home defeat by Doncaster in a Co-operative Championship 1 game at the New River Stadium 11 days ago.

Head coach Mbu and his assistant Bloom were both charged by the Rugby Football League's match review panel with running in and punching and were found guilty when they appeared in front of the League's disciplinary committee on Wednesday.

As well as the touchline bans, the Skolars were fined £2,500, with £500 payable immediately and the rest suspended for six months.

Source: The Press Association.

The Doncaster player who was sent off got no case to answer, Kyle Kesik got a 1 game ban

A fine question, and it's taken me a while to figure out the answer.

I thought the reason is that when I signed on the totalrl forum, tim and tim1 were taken. So I used tim2. When I later signed up for rlfans, I used the same name.

Edit: That theory has gone, I joined totalrl in 2003. The original tim must have closed his account, making the name free again.

I'm sure on BBC London they said 6 month touchline ban.

It is 6 months (3 of which are suspended)

Doncaster ? Brawl ? Wonder what they say to oppo players for it to end in a brawl ?