Video: One of the most shocking assaults we’ve seen on a rugby pitch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZYpljlcVHk

We’re a bit late to the party with this one, but the assault by Gloucester’s Andy Hazell on a Mont de Marsan player on Thursday night was so shocking we simply had to bring it to your attention.

In what was a bad-tempered game throughout, tempers spilled over early in the second half when Hazell started punching an opponent wildly while he lay prone on the ground, even connecting with a knee to the head at one stage before more players joined in to try and sort it out.

Hazell was said to have reacted to repeated provocation, including an alleged eye-gouging incident, but surely there is no excuse for his reaction, which, unsurprisingly, led to a red card and could lead to a lengthy ban once the incident is reviewed.

There are repeated incidents of confrontation in the video above, but the main episode featuring Hazell starts around a minute into the clip and the replays in particular provide damning evidence of his actions.

We’re all for a physicality and not backing down on the rugby pitch, but this is taking it a bit too far.

Check it out for yourself in the video above.

Hat-tip to the folks at RugbyDump.com for the video and to Oileán Murray for pointing it out to us on Facebook.