Eye gouging and stomping - La Rochelle's dirty tactics a throwback to rugby's amateur days

La Rochelle spent the majority of their Champions Cup match against Sale with 14-men after hooker Pierre Bourgarit was red-carded on the stroke of halftime for eye-gouging.

The hooker was spotted grabbing at England flanker Tom Curry’s eyes during a scuffle between the two sides. The TMO reviewed the incident and deemed a red card necessary for the offence.

The visitors were down to 13-men for a further 20-minutes as they were hit with two more yellow cards that could have been more as the French club lost control of their discipline in a wild encounter at AJ Bell Stadium.

With five minutes remaining, centre Geoffrey Doumayrou was seen stomping on an opposition arm at a ruck, pushing his boot into the wrist of a player competing for the ball.

Doumayrou should have seen red for deliberately standing on Webber's hand. Webber should have been binned for refusing to let ball go. But zero action on both is poor refereeing #SALvLAR

— Matt Cassidy (@Cass_maitias) November 24, 2019

? pic.twitter.com/1r5HQtv6Ku

— Russ Petty (@rpetty80) November 24, 2019

I guess you can still stamp on people's arms these days and not get a card. Bonkers. #SALvLAR

— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) November 24, 2019

https://twitter.com/baileysoverice/status/1198615335391416321

How did La Rochelle's '13' get away with not 1 but 3 clear stamps on the hand of the Sale player? Not surprised when he answered the touch judge back with 'You saw it, do sommat about it then'. They were lucky it was just a penalty reversal!#SALvLAR #HeinekenChampionsCup

— JB (@jrb1103) November 24, 2019

Doumayrou was called over by the refeeree for a talking to after the incident was reviewed by the TMO but no further cards were issued for the act. The French centre was visibly upset at even the penalty, arguing with the referee over the decision.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5RW2HRgkzr/

La Rochelle’s horrific discipline played an influential part in the match, losing the penalty count by 17-8. They were also outgunned in turnovers, with a Curry-powered Sale winning the turnover battle 10-1.

It was surprising that Sale did not finish with more points given the advantages that La Rochelle gave them, however, the home side missed a couple of penalties and had a length of the field try rubbed out for a forward pass.

https://twitter.com/TNODonoghue/status/1198615731803492358

Sale win but that was a BP butchered. La Rochelle were down to 13 men for 2 periods in that match and the Sharks failed to score a point. Missing out on that point could be crucial. La Rochelle are down for this year's tournament it seems #SALvLAR

— Matt Cassidy (@Cass_maitias) November 24, 2019

https://twitter.com/KevBeirne/status/1198617018813046785

The result effectively puts La Rochelle out of contention following a 31-12 home defeat by Exeter but sets up the Sharks for their home tie against the unbeaten Chiefs in a fortnight’s time.

The Season with Hamilton Boys High School 1st XV – Episode 3: