@nzzp said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@snowy said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
I suppose an "accidental" bite is possible but reasonable doubt would suggest otherwise.
The way I read it, the forearm got pushed into a mouth in the dynamic ruck. The injury was really minor - so the argument is that it wasn't clearly a bite, and could have been incidental contact.
I have some sympathy for this position... I'd hate to be hung on someone pushing a forearm into my open mouth. And what's te point of a gentle bite that doesn't puncture the skin?
We once had a guy on the ground, head near opponent's leg. Opponent screamed, gets up with bite mark. Ref didn't "see" it, but red card on probability. What wasn't evident was the opponent was reefing away at our bloke's headgear, so it was reactionary.
12 weeks for biting, basically because the ref could connect 2 events and we didn't have any video to back up claims of the head being attacked.