Nic White copycat tries to fool referee with disgraceful acting
With the Oscars soon approaching, Toulon scrum-half Benoît Paillaugue could be in the running to pick up Best Actor after his exploits at the Altrad Stadium on Saturday.
Up against the reigning Top 14 champions Montpellier, the No9 tried to hoodwink referee Pierre Brousset into showing a likely red card to lock Bastien Chalureau. Worse still, it was one of Paillague’s former teammates having spent most of his career at Montpellier.
The incident came early in the match after Chalureau was penalised for a no-arms clear out at a ruck. But Paillaugue’s theatrics after being hit forced the match officials to have a look at it to see whether it was a red card or not. Brousset deemed there was no head contact, and the match resumed, but that basically meant Paillague faked the head contact to force a red card, which plenty would feel is worthy of being punished.
Of course, Paillague is not the first No9 to feign an injury, as Nic White made headlines during the Rugby Championship to his histrionics against the Springboks. On that occasion there was slight contact with the face of the Wallaby, which did result in Faf de Klerk being sin binned. Paillague was maybe being a bit more devious then, but he didn’t get away with it.
Take a look:
Montpellier XV
1 E. FORLETTA
2 B. PAENGA-AMOSA
3 T. LAMOSITELE
4 B. CHALUREAU
5 E. STOOKE
6 A. DAKUWAQA
7 A. BÉCOGNÉE
8 Z. MERCER
9 C. REINACH
10 L. CARBONEL
11 G. BRIDGE
12 J. SERFONTEIN
13 T. DARMON
14 V. RATTEZ
15 A. BOUTHIER (C)
Replacements
16 V. GIUDICELLI
17 S. CHAUVAC
18 T. DUGUID
19 C. DOUMENC
20 L. FOURSANS-BOURDETTE
21 P. LUCAS
22 M. TAULEIGNE
23 H. THOMAS
Toulon XV
1 D. PRISO
2 A. ÉTRILLARD
3 E. SETIANO
4 S. REBBADJ
5 B. ALAINU’UESE
6 C. DU PREEZ
7 F. ISA
8 (C) S. PARISSE
9 B. PAILLAUGUE
1 D. PRISO
10 I. WEST
11 J. WAINIQOLO
12 D. PAIA’AUA
13 W. NAYACALEVU VUIDRAVUWALU
14 C. KOLBE
15 A. LUC
Replacements
16 Y. BOULASSEL
17 B. DEVAUX
18 A. WARION
19 M. HALAGAHU
20 M. LE CORVEC
21 B. SERIN
22 M. SMAILI
23 K. BROOKES
