A shoulder-to-head ruck clear out in a Welsh Premiership game has sparked controversy among viewers, with one campaign group describing the incident as "ridiculous".
Merthyr RFC faced Newport RFC at The Wern on Thursday evening, with the Black and Ambers winning 31-15. One particular incident has caused concern among viewers.
That came in the 45th minute when, with a ruck formed, Newport second row Josh Skinner was smashed by the shoulder of Merthyr second row Craig Locke. He appeared to strike the head of Skinner with a huge amount of force but the referee and touch judge decided he made contact with the chest first.
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You can watch the clear out below.
Locke was issued a yellow card for his actions and served 10 minutes in the bin. Despite losing a man, for the whole period Locke was on the sidelines Merthyr fought back from 8-17 to come within two points of Newport. However, it wasn't enough as the visiting team ran away with the game in the last 30 minutes.
A video of the incident, which was posted to X, has gained almost 200,000 views. Many fans turned their anger on the officials for not taking stronger action.
"Gutless ref. Gutless behaviour all round," said one.
"The ref bottled that, looking straight at it" said another.
"Ridiculous. Hope the player on the deck was ok," commented player welfare group Progressive Rugby.
The result leaves Newport 15 points adrift of league leaders Llandovery, but Newport have played two games less. Merthyr are sitting in eighth place.
