A terrible weekend for rugby

It was a sickening spectacle. The television footage, first in real time and then through sundry replays, was gruesome. When New South Wales Waratahs full back Duncan McRae trapped Ronan O'Gara under the crook of one arm, pinning him to the ground, itwasn't difficult to anticipate what was coming next. O'Gara was going to be punched.

Nothing though could have prepared the viewer for the ferocity or the duration of McRae's attack: 11 punches delivered to the face of a player who was in no position to either defend himself or retaliate, nor showed any inclination to do so.

When McRae's team-mates pulled him off the Irishman, their faces spoke volumes, both appalled as they looked on O'Gara's battered and bloodied face, the gash below his right eye streaming blood. The Irishman was assisted from the field by Lions team doctor James Robson, angrily pointing and saying something to McRae. O'Gara required 11 stitches in total to two lacerations below the eye. It is sobering to reflect that he was lucky.

McRae's savagery would have continued had his team-mates not interceded. McRae did not stop punching; he was dragged away.

The Sky Sports commentary team of Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes were outraged by the incident. Back in the studio after the match, Ian McGeechan described the McRae's actions at "thuggery". Dewi Morris intimated that there would be people all over the British Isles who wished that Martin Johnson "had inflicted more damage on McRae" earlier this year. The reference was to an incident to a league match between Leicester and Saracens after which Johnson was subsequently suspended for kneeing McRae in the back and breaking a couple of ribs. Unfortunately the Sky panel let themselves down by equating the sundry other dust-ups within a torrid confrontation to the O'Gara incident.

In the heat of battle, tempers fray, but there is a considerable difference between squaring up to somebody and exchanging punches and using someone head as a human punch-bag. It was unpalatable to listen to Morris, McGeechan and anchor Mark Durden-Smith indulge in a nudge, nudge wink, wink, we're all boys together, trip down memory lane to the violence that marred the 1989 series between Australia and the Lions.

But while the studio panel failed to realise the disgust with which most people viewed the incident, there were made to look like avenging crusaders by NSW Waratahs coach and Sunday Times columnist, Bob Dwyer.

Touchline reporter Graham Simmons collared Dwyer.Simmons' initial probe was that Lions coach Graham Henry had been adamant that the Waratahs had set out to physically intimidate the Lions. Dwyer offered a cheap remark about New Zealanders and dragged up a bit of history about former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains, before pointing out that Lions Danny Grewcock threw the first punch.

No surprise there, then, a coach being a little one-eyed and defending his players. The inquisition strayed to the O'Gara-McRae incident. Dwyer's response was staggering. He claimed that O'Gara had caught McRae with a flying elbow at a ruck: the video would show that O'Gara had cleared out McRae, perfectly legitimately at a ruck, and that the only illegal contact was a shove.

Dwyer then said that the Irish player had kicked out while both players were on the ground. He said McRae had simply retaliated. That's all right then. He obviously considers it perfectly acceptable for a player to trap another on the ground and punch him senseless. Dwyer's reaction was pathetic, a spineless, shambling defence .

The International Board (IRB) must intervene to rescue the sport's tarnished reputation. Otherwise next Saturday's first Test between Australia and the Lions will first need to be viewed by the censor, and no parent would permit their youngster to be exposed to the ugly brutality of the O'Gara incident.

And if the IRB don't believe that bad enough then Sky Sports later offered another bad image of the sport. South Africa's Johan Rassie Erasmus twice bringing his boot down on the heed of a stricken French opponent.

It was a terrible weekend for rugby union. Revulsion should greet the television images and a commitment to ensure that no parent should have to watch their child battered senseless.