Sad day for rugby

Planet Rugby: There were disgraceful scenes at a match in France recently that led to a touch judge being struck by supporters, knocked to the ground and then taken away on a stretcher to hospital. The incident occurred in a first-round match - the knockout stages following the league proper - of a game between Luzech and Quillan.

The match would probably equate to fifths level in that French rugby is broken up into the Top 14 (French Championship), Pro Division 2, Federal 1, Federal 2 and - the level of the match in question - Federal 3.

The report is translated from the French newspaper La Depeche du Midi. The game was played at a neutral venue, Rieumes, about 40 kilometres south of Toulouse.

"The festival has been destroyed, what we have seen today is disgraceful." These are the words of Maurice Aragou, mayor of Quillan and Conseiller General du Canton de Quillan as he bluntly described the Quillan nightmare.

Play had reached the 60th minute in the first round match of the French Championship of Federal 3. The lotois (Luzech) were leading 32-28. The match referee, M Aymard (Limousin), blew for another penalty against Quillan, yellow-carding their captain Michel Cuguillere, who then had "words" with the referee. The official immediately changed it to a red card.

At this point the Quillan captain became very upset and threw a water bottle at the referee, who immediately blew his whistle to signal the end of the match.

The unfenced stadium at Rieumes was promptly invaded by the supporters of both camps. In the furore, the referee and his touch judge on the stand side, M Breuil, succeeded in reaching the changing rooms, not so his colleague on the far side, M Clautier.

The latter was violently struck on the head and remained on the ground for a long time before being evacuated by the fire brigade to the nearest hospital. There was consternation in the referees' changing room. "I have never seen anything like this in 10 years," stressed M Aymard. The ball is now in the court of the Discipline Commission.

Matches are played between teams from different regions, with referees and touch judges being provided from neutral regions, in this case from the Limoges region. Quillan is about the same size as Wicklow, in the Arriege Department in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

A sad day for rugby.

Calling the plays

RTÉ radio commentator Michael Corcoran will be behind the microphone for his 99th Heineken European Cup match when Munster take on Biarritz in Saturday's final at the Millennium Stadium. The popular broadcaster is looking forward to a great contest but this column thought we'd give people a little taste of his most recent cup exploits, with mic in hand. Here's a selection of what we affectionately call "Corcoranisms" from Munster's semi-final victory over Leinster.

1. "It's a lineout to Munster. There are two balls on the pitch. There's a fella with a Federal Express T-shirt on him gone to retrieve the spare ball. Munster don't need Federal Express to find Paul O'Connell in the lineout."

2. "Shane Horgan comes forward with the ball. He's tackled by Paul O'Connell. Horgan is under pressure. He's penalised by the referee for holding onto the ball. If it was in the first five minutes I'd forgive him. It's not, its the 65th minute and I don't."

3. "It's a penalty for Munster. Jerry Flannery thought about taking it quickly. (Rob) Henderson hauls him back by the shirt collar as if to say, would you relax a while I need to catch my breath."

Corcoran will be joined by Ciarán Fitzgerald, Donal Lenihan and Victor Costello in calling the plays on RTÉ radio next Saturday.

Gregan in dock

There's more than a hint of irony in New Zealanders giving out about spear tackles following the antics of last summer's Lions tour. Australian scrumhalf George Gregan is in hot water following a "reckless and highly dangerous spear tackle on Highlanders wing Richard Kahui during the Brumbies loss in Canberra".

The Sanzar judiciary suspended Gregan for a week. Kahui was left dazed and his team-mates weren't impressed. Referee Marius Jonker showed Gregan a yellow card but Chiefs captain and All Black Jono Gibbes said, "I don't think anything's too harsh in that area. I think we need to just stamp it out . . . If a guy picks up another player, drives him, then lets him go then that's one thing, but to pick him up and drive him head first into the ground . . . that player deserves to be punished."

Gregan did apologise and was later quoted: "I've been on the receiving end of a couple of those and it's terrible. It was one of those incidents you'd like to take back but can't."

Of course the IRB was supposed to be cracking down on spear tackles after the Brian O'Driscoll incident during the Lions tour.

A touch of class

Those interested in emulating the their favourite players or just looking for a little fun can log on to www.touchrugby.com and sign up for a 10-week stint.