Last weekend’s Abu Dhabi derby was a brutal game. It was the sort of match that reminds you a rugby field is seldom a place for saps.
At one point during the first half, while the match was stopped for a discussion between the match officials, opposing supporters were discussing the legality of the preceding tackle.
The debate was only slightly less heated than the action on the pitch.
“Play the game – it is not ballet,” one spectator suggested.
Clearly, it is not. Neither is it a tickling contest.
It was heavy stuff, and it was interesting to see the different takes on what was fair and what was not. UAE rugby – as with life in general here – is entirely multicultural. What is foul play for players from one nation can often merely be a case of manning up for others.
Collisions and physicality are what attract many to rugby. One player from a Dubai club said he got a shoeing when he faced an Abu Dhabi side earlier this season.
He was revelling in retelling the story, and he conceded he deserved what came his way. He is a pest at the breakdown, he said, so it is therefore fair game.
If a late hit happens, or a tackle without the arms wrapping the attacker, or a tip tackle, a card might ensue – or it might not.
What is universally agreed to be beyond the pale, however, is diving. Even the word seems totally out of place in a discussion about rugby.
Whether that view will last the test of time, though, remains to be seen. Simulation remains rare in the oval ball game, but there has been a perceptible creep lately.
The Toulouse winger Yoann Huget was handed a formal warning for feigning injury during his team’s European Champions Cup loss to Bath at the weekend.
The officials said the French international had taken a fall in an attempt to gain a penalty for foul play.
In a statement, European Professional Club Rugby said the warning had been issued for “an act contrary to good sportsmanship”.
Imagine that happening in football. The administrators would run out of paper if they had to officially censure everyone who went to ground without good reason.
pradley@thenational.ae
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