New footage reveals England's Hill set up red with evil thuggery minutes before
By Rugby Onslaught

New footage reveals England’s Hill set up red with evil thuggery minutes before

Though the majority of the rugby world will agree that Australia’s Darcy Swain deserved to be red carded for a head butt on England’s Jonny Hill in the first half of  the match in Perth on Saturday, the punishment for the England lock is a bit more debatable.

The Sale Sharks bound second row initiated the scuffle between the two by pulling Swain’s hair, but the 24-year-old Wallaby of course over reacted. Hill was just shown a yellow, while his counterpart was dismissed. To make matters worse, Australia actually had a penalty under the posts which was reversed as well.

However, footage has surfaced online of an altercation between the two earlier in the match, where Hill very clearly struck Swain in the face with both hands. It was not a punch, but it was quite an aggressive push to the face of the Wallaby. What is even more strange is that it happened mere inches away from referee James Doleman, but went unnoticed.

This was a crafty act by the Englishman, because it all happened while Australia took a box kick. With the referee concentrating on the ruck and whether players were onside or not as the kick was made, Hill saw this as the opportune moment to wind up his opponent. Plenty of people online have since questioned whether Hill should have been red carded for this incident alone, which would have meant he would not have even been on the field to pull Swain’s hair a few minutes laters.

Combining this incident with the hair pulling helps understand why Swain acted the way he did. It does not justify it, but it gives a bit more context. Australia will feel aggrieved that Hill came out of both of these scuffles with only a yellow card to his name.

Take a look at his strike:

Here was the red card:

Rugby Onslaught
July 2, 11:19
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