"We saw Neymar" – Ronan O'Gara calls out 'dive' that sent off La Rochelle lock Will Skelton
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La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara did not hold back on his assessment of events, after a suspected ‘dive’ caused one of his players to be sent off this past weekend. The action saw Will Skelton attempt to clear Tanginoa Halaifonua out of a ruck, with Skelton’s leading shoulder coming into contact with the Stade Francais man’s head.
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Whilst it was by all means not a perfectly executed rugby clear-out, the added dramatics from the Stade Francais flanker have raised question marks around gamesmanship within the action. Halaifonua rather expressively held his head as he fell to the floor, in an unnatural way not dissimilar to that of a dive in soccer. O’Gara pulled connotations with the exaggeration, to that of famous footballing diver Neymar, given how the match was held at the Brazilian’s former PSG home stadium.
“Unfortunately, today, we are at the Parc des Princes and we saw Neymar.” O’Gara said. “It's a dark day for rugby.” He added. “To give a red card for that? I'm not trying to protect Will (Skelton) because it's not good, but a rugby player who does that (hold their head as they fall), it's quite an interesting gesture.”
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