<BR>Tuesday October 11 2005
<BR>Incidents in Bourgoin and Bayonne in the spotlight at Top 14 boils over
<BR>There was plenty of rugby to savour, but the weekend\'s action was tarnished by scenes which, according to one official, haven\'t been seen for over fifty years.
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<BR> The matches in Bourgoin and Bayonne were the ones which caused the Midi Olympique - France\'s weekly rugby digest - to headline their front page \'An eighth day marked by violence\'.
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<BR>In Monday\'s edition of L\'Équipe, the picture of the near indescribable brawl between the Bourgoin and Agen players monopolised a half-page, while Midi Olympique carried a picture of the forlorn Bayonne lock Thierry Cléda trooping off with blood streaming from a head wound.
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<BR>Cléda had just been sent off for retaliating to a stamp on his head which caused the wound, but Bayonne were no angels.
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<BR>Perpignan\'s French international fullback Julien Laharrague lost two teeth - after a punch for which Tongan winger Pila Fifita has been cited - and Catalan flanker Grégory Le Corvec emerged from the battle with two broken ribs after a stamp, also apparently by Fifita.
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<BR>Perpignan trainer Philippe Boher was livid after the game.
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<BR>\"What happened here tonight [Saturday] is just not acceptable,\" he said.
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<BR>\"There were illegal and deplorable actions on the pitch. The Bayonnais team appears to have too violent an attitude.\"
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<BR>Laharrague himself also held no emotion back as he described the actions.
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<BR>\"I received a right hook of a boxer,\" he said.
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<BR>\"I was in a ruck, and saw Fifita stamping on one of my team-mates, so I pushed him away.\"
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<BR>Then came the punch that has cost him his dentures.
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<BR>\"I hope whoever is responsible is cited and suspended,\" he continued.
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<BR>\"Rugby is a battle, fine. But within reasonable limits.\"
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<BR>Cléda said after the game that his acts of vengeance - a series of uppercuts to Perpignan scrum-half Nicolas Durand - were \'unpardonable\', but also said that the Boher\'s pre-match comments were responsible for the over-aggression. The Perpignan coach apparently said that his team were out to even the scores for injuries to his players caused by Bayonne players during the season.
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<BR>\"I have seen some scandalous things in the press this week,\" said Cléda.
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<BR>\"He [Boher] has always been a moaner. He is a super trainer, but he only ever sees the things that happen to him.\"
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<BR>Boher also had a few words of criticism to dish out to the officials, who let the violence go unpunished too often.
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<BR>\"The referees and disciplinary must be harder on such things,\" he said.
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<BR>\"Brawls are getting more and more commonplace. Wingers like [Rupeni] Caucau only get 20 days for stamping on someone\'s head, which means the teams think \'we can get away with over-aggression, we can physically intimidate the opposition like this.\"
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<BR>Still, at least the miscreants from the Stade Jean Dauger have been singled out, whereas those officials examining events at Bourgoin\'s Stade Pierre-Rajon are most likely wondering where to start.
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<BR>Agen captain and centre Luc Lafforgue will bear the brunt of the disciplinary\'s wrath after his extraordinary unprovoked and personal attack on Bourgoin\'s Michael Forest, which left the latter prostrate on the pitch for most of the half-time interval.
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<BR>There followed a full-on battle between the teams - with some spectators also involved - which lasted over a minute, after which Lafforgue and his Bourgoin counterpart Julien Bonnaire were both dismissed.
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<BR>\"I saw the Bourgoin scrum-half head-butt one of my team-mates,\" said Lafforgue.
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<BR>\"I tried to attract the linesman\'s attention, but he didn\'t want to know.
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<BR>\"I went to talk to Forest myself, who head-butted me as well, so I hit him back.\"
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<BR>Forest himself denied that accusation, and gave a rather different version - which was a version supported by the television replays.
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<BR>\"I was tying my laces when Lafforgue came up to me,\" he said.
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<BR>\"Head-to-head, he insulted me and warned me not to come out for the second half. I pushed him away, then hit me.
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<BR>\"I can\'t remember much more, I didn\'t see the fight. But I hadn\'t touched Lafforgue during the entire first-half. I watched the video later, and he hit me. Gratuitously. I have no idea what he wanted.\"
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<BR>Bonnaire charged in to avenge Forest, delivering a flying kick to Lafforgue\'s backside, and now risks exclusion from the French team for the November Tests if his suspension lasts more than three weeks. He is already suspended automatically for ten days, as is Lafforgue.
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<BR>\"I wanted to defend my team-mate,\" said Bonnaire.
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<BR>\"But it is true. I forgot my role as a captain. I regret what I did.\"
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<BR>But the largest of the disciplinary guillotines currently hanging over the Bourgoin camp concerns the behaviour of the spectators. The stadium allows a certain number of spectators to stand right by the pitch and lean over the advertising hoardings during the match, and it was these spectators who delivered several blows to Agen prop Cezar Popescu and centre Conrad Stoltz.
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<BR>Philippe de Miranda, the referee supervisor, assigned to report to the League confirmed that it would be a matter raised.
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<BR>\"I have reported that, as confirmed to me by the touch-judge, Agen players trapped by the advertisement hoardings were struck by spectators along the touchline,\" he said.
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<BR>Bourgoin\'s team-manager Pierre Raschi outlined the worst-case scenario, saying \"we are now at risk of having our stadium banned, as spectators have been involved.\" It would not be the first time for Bourgoin, who were forced to play two matches behind closed doors in 2000 when spectators attacked referee - coincidentally also Saturday\'s referee - Franck Maciello.
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<BR>League President Serge Blanco summed up the general feeling in the rugby fraternity on Sunday at the weekend\'s scenes.
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<BR>\"I have seen pictures I never wanted to see again,\" he said.
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<BR>\"The people of the disciplinary commission must act, and it must be a heavy act.\"
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<BR>The commission will meet on October 19 to adjudicate.
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<BR>è ACCADUTO IN FRANCIA.....
<BR>CI STIAMO SPOSTANDO VERSO GLòI ALTRI PIANETI SPORTIVI CON L\'AVVENTO DEL PROFESSIONISMO?
