NRL 2020: Chad Townsend sent off for Kalyn Ponga hit in Sharks Vs Knights
Опубликованно 06.09.2020 16:35
Up 22-4 with 27 minutes to go, the Knights’ fullback marked the ball in the in-goal before running out to the 20m line.
The Knights returned to form on the back of a Kalyn Ponga hat-trick in the 38-10 win but Townsend’s hit stole the attention.
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Already sporting wadding up the nose to stop a nose bleed, Ponga raced out and took the tap, only for Townsend, who was set on the 30m line, to fly out and annihilate the Knights star.
Both teams came together for some push and shove, and thankfully Ponga was quick to leap up.
“Colossal from Chad Townsend on Kalyn Ponga and the flare up ensues,” Matt Russell said on Fox League.
WATCH IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE
The hit on Ponga that led to a send off.
It was a serious hit with Townsend jumping into the hit, with Russell pondering if it was a shoulder charge from Townsend.
“Did he make an attempt to put his left arm around?” Roach asked. “Trying to do something for his team.
“It‘ll be a penalty, that’ll be about it.”
The crowd of 5,597 were baying for blood after the hit and surprisingly referee Ben Cummins agreed, calling it high, pointing the Sharks half to the sideline, the third send off of the season.
“You aren’t making a tackle, feet off the ground, you’re off,” he said. “I reckon it was pretty serious, he jumped off the ground, off the ball and he’s hit him high.”
Part of the explanation was that Cummins had called time off as he was about to send Ponga back to tap again.
Roach asked: “Townsend was on the move, how could he pull out of it?”
Sharks coach John Morris wasn’t sure if he thought it should be a send off but “yeah it was a shoulder charge”.
“I feel for Chaddy, I don’t even think he’s been sin binned in his career let alone sent off and he’s not one to play like that but he was just trying to change the momentum of the game and shot off the line and obviously he got it wrong.”
Morris added that thing “happen at a million miles” and that it was a split-second decision.
Ben Cummins gives Townsend his marching orders.
“What?” Roach said. “Turn it up.”
“He‘s sent him off,” a shocked Russell said. “He has sent Chad Townsend off in his comeback game, five games out with a calf injury, he returns only to be sensationally sent off.”
Paul Aitken was the last Shark to be sent off in 2011.
The commentators still couldn‘t believe the issue.
“I did not see the send off coming,” Russell said.
Roach agreed: “You could put it on report and let them work it out, I don‘t think it’s a send off.”
But at halftime in the second game, Greg Alexander called the whole incident “bizarre”.
“It’s one of the more bizarre incidents I’ve seen in a long time,” he said. “We don’t see many send offs in the game. He left the ground, he hit him high — now I don’t know whether he did make contact with the head — but it was such a crazy moment from Chad Townsend, I was shocked when I saw it really. The referee had called a halt to play but Chad carried on.”
Braith Anasta said the issue comes down to whether the shoulder hit the head, because if it didn’t, he said it shouldn’t have been a send off.
However, on Channel 9, Andrew Johns said “He‘s in a lot of trouble. Unbelievable.”
Post-match, Ponga said “He was on the ground, he was above me, that was how it unfolded. It is was it is, he got sent off so it’s what happened.”
He also denied that he was hit in the head with the impact in his body sending him backwards.
Social media was pretty happy for the send off however.
Absolutely mind blown at Chad Townsends decision to jumping shoulder charge Ponga #BrainFart #NRLKnightsSharks #NRL— Unhinged (@beatdown155) September 4, 2020
Catch ya Chad. Poor form. #NRLKnightsSharks— Caden Helmers (@cadenhelmers) September 4, 2020
Chad Townsend’s clearly been watching too many NFL big hit compilations on YouTube and forgot you can’t do that in rugby league #nrlknightssharks— Melanie Dinjaski (@MelanieDinjaski) September 4, 2020
Cronulla will need a mini-bus to the judiciary this week. #NRLKnightsSharks— neen (@Janine__Graham) September 4, 2020
It wasn’t the first controversial moment of the game with a Tony Rudolph also placed on report for a “suplex” tackle.
After the Knights hot first half, Lino was picked up with Rudolph deemed to have thrown the Knights half down.
“He does it to the littlest man on the field, take on some of the big blokes,” Roach said in commentary.
“That‘s very dangerous this. He’ll be on report for sure. He’s tried to suplex him here. He’s tried to put his head through the ground.
“That‘s really nasty.”Sharks 'ugly' suplex tackle
NRL: Wade Graham and Toby Rudolf were both placed on report for this nasty looking lifting tackle on young Knight Mason Lino.
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