“They all looked at it, the TMO looked at it and none of them had a problem with it. They're the ones who judge. I don't have the experience to go against them but it hurt me. It would have hurt poor Tane He (Finau) has done a few this year.
“I'm always concerned about the safety of the players, and seeing Tane on the ground like that is not good. I'm not going to come out with crazy statements and make a headline, because I don't know if it was illegal.
“I know in rugby league they definitely protect the kicker, and there are times when it's not too different when a ball player takes the ball and doesn't go forward and isn't ready for contact, how do you adjust that? I don't know. I don't have the answer here or now. It might be worth looking into.”
Closer to halfway through the online debate that celebrated Finau's hit as a brilliant shot, Jake Gordon opined that it's all part of rugby.
“This is the risk. It is a contact sport. If you take it on the line, there's always the risk of getting hit. It is very difficult to police. The heat of the moment and you're a meter away from a guy and you don't know if he's going to dummy, it teaches you how to deal with the guy if he's going to take him to the line,” Gordon said.
“I'd have to look at it, but it's simultaneous and he's messing around, that's a bit of rugby.”
Samipeni Finau of the Capes.Credit: Getty
Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan said he was pleased with the tackle, believed it was clean and applauded Edmed for getting back on his feet. He said it was not a deliberate strategy coached by the Chiefs for Finau to chase No.10s.
Of more concern to McMillan is the possibility that one of Finau's flying monster shots goes awry, given that he's hitting people so close to the line of scrimmage. It wouldn't take much of a mistake for Finau to not only see a red card, but potentially cause a serious head injury to a number 10.
“We're talking about a difference of about 10cm,” McMillan said, adding that he had spoken to the full-back about the risks of his style.
“Yeah, he's got a great awareness of small margins and he could be off the field (if he makes a mistake). He's an important player for us, so he has to do well.”
NRL legend Andrew Johns often talks about the danger of hitting playmakers after the ball has been passed, often from behind, as they are not preparing for contact.
Queensland coach Les Kiss said Super Rugby Pacific needed to clamp down on late hits like Finau's, saying playmakers needed to be protected.
“If you pass the ball and two seconds later you get hit, I think you should be protected and that's the main focus,” Kiss said. “If this is becoming a trend, we need to get on board right away because what you allow you promote.”
Asked if he thought it was a dangerous tackle for a vulnerable player, McMillan said there is a tricky balance between players needing to be physically dominant but also playing within safety parameters.
“I think the game has never been safer in terms of laws and awareness around contact and contact around the head,” he said.
“It's a fine line. It's a brutal sport at times. You don't want to stop your players from trying to physically dominate those collisions, but they all have a responsibility to make sure they're accurate and sometimes they make mistakes and they pay a very high price individually and collectively. We absolutely don't want that to happen, safety is always paramount, but we don't want to stop them from going out and being physical.”
Coleman agreed, saying that deliberate physical aggression is part of rugby.
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“There is an intimidating aspect to the game. You want a scrum and a maul, there are forces where you want to intimidate the opposition, if a player is chipping the ball at you, you want to clear them with genuine vigor to dissuade them from doing that,” he said.
“Big, physical players, their job is to deter smart quarterbacks from getting it on the line that deep. I definitely don't want to think I'm unfriendly to Tane, I have to protect Tane and I'm aware of that.
“I haven't seen it enough. I have to trust the officers, four of them saw it, one of them several times in replay. And so they don't say it's illegal, at this stage I have to support them” .
