If you like cheating, you have to love British rugby player Tom Williams‘s ploy last week.
Apparently there is a rule in rugby, as in soccer, that once a substitution is made to take a player out of the match, that player can’t return to the game. The exception to this rule is “blood injuries,” in which case a player can come off until the bleeding is stopped and then return to play.
Tom Williams suffered just such a blood injury at a very critical moment of a recent match. I don’t know anything about rugby, but his team was down by a point and they had some sort of drop-kicking specialist on the sidelines and it was the perfect time for him to come in and try a kick that would give Williams’ team the Harlequins the lead.
The trouble began when Williams looked a bit too happy as he left the field considering the large quantities of blood pouring from his mouth. One might have written this off to his being a rugby player, but apparently even rugby players get cross when smashed in the mouth, which led to an investigation. Eventually, television footage revealed that Williams had pulled a capsule of theatrical blood out of his sock and bitten into it in order to produce the faked injury.
A brilliant idea, but alas, in the end not only did Williams get suspended from the league for a year, his substitute also missed the kick and the Harlequins lost the game by a single point.
(More on this story here. Hat tip: Dean Strachan.)
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Seems to me that the coaches should have got a significant penalty also; I can’t believe he would do this on his own. If he did, talk about taking one for the team.
I would have guessed that a real rugby player would have just bitten his own lip in two to exit the game.
He should have just done what a friend of mine did in high school to get out of a test… whack yourself in the nose until it bleeds, then go to the nurse to get cleaned up.
I played Rugby. This offends me a great deal, and I think they should kick him out of the sport forever (he can go play soccer where faking injuries is the norm).
Christine is right, he should have bitten his own lip if he wanted a blood sub. It’s still cheap, but at least it’s within the confines of the Laws of the game.
The reason the coaches were not penalised is that there was not enough evidence that they did anything. Unless Williams implicated them (or they confessed to something) they have to be considered innocent…
Arguable, there was some evidence of foul play – the replacement kicker was warming up for about 5 minutes before the incident, but that isn’t proof.
The consequences if Harliquins had won would have been dire – the team that beat them (Leinster) won the competition. It would have denied them millions…
However, I do think that 1 year penalty was harsh. I would guess something will happen during the appeal.
I get the feeling that he wasn’t the only one behind the “plan”. Too bad television footage won’t give insight into that.
good post
In hockey a high-stick is penalized two minutes with no blood drawn, and four if blood is drawn.
Since the reaction to either is often to cover your face with your hands and put your head down, I think that in the intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a lot of players come up with badly bitten lips.
I know a lot of fans agree with me, but I think since it is real blood and takes real pain to get your team that extra 2 minute power play, nobody would fault the player for it. Blood capsule… cheater. Drawing your own blood… competitor.