World Rugby has a year to sort out this farce

October 3, 2026 — 4:30pm

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A four-game ban for Hunter Paisami?

I had his tackle on Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in Perth last Sunday as a penalty, and even that went against my better instincts.

It was not “foul play”, despite what World Rugby says.

Rugby fans have been gaslit for years with that terminology when anyone with even a degree common sense can see what happened.

Paisami was upright because he wanted to shut off the possibility of an offload. There is no foulness in his intentions or the act.

When the two collided it was more cheek to cheek than anything, and even that contact looked secondary to their upper bodies meeting. Drunken teenage discos see bodies embrace more vigorously.

But, boy, did Feinberg-Mngomezulu make sure the incident was noticed, throwing his hands up in the air and launching himself towards space for the benefit of the watching Oscar judges.

That’s another pernicious result of the crackdown on supposed “foul play”. Simulation hasn’t crept into rugby, it’s........

© Brisbane Times