Moe syslak wrote:
But that was a bloke on the floor pretending to be injured. And nobody knows at the time if an injury is genuine or not, so that is a big no no. Vaughan grabbed a bloke who was already getting up of his own accord.
I'm not sure what difference there is between a person laying down and being potentially injured and kneeling/getting up gingerly and potentially injured. You can get to your feet with an incredibly serious injury. Also, Vaughan moves Mata'utia, Mata'utia just lifted Levi's shirt in a 'get up' type gesture, so there's as much arguement for increasing it as there is reversing it.
It's a tough one as clearly there's nothing malicious in it from Vaughan and it does seem a daft thing to be banned for. But the harshness of the punishments for Mata'utia and SKD were to deter players from doing it and it clearly hasn't worked. Vaughan doesn't know whether Mata'utia is injured anymore than the previous incidents. Walmsley started getting up of his own accord twice after breaking his neck in almost the same spot if you remember. The onus is on the players not to touch the ball carrier once the tackle is complete. Just step away and let the referee sort it out. That removes the need for any debate about what an appropriate punishment is. Pulling him up should either result in a six again or a red card, neither is beneficial to his team.