The exploited rugby rule that led to a doctor purposely hurting a player

Here's a moral quandary for you: Doctors are supposed to do no harm, but if quickly cutting up a rugby player will save the team from getting caught in an elaborate cheating scheme that involved fake blood capsules... is that harm or help?

In the 2009 Rugby Union Bloodgate scandal during the Harlequins vs. Leinster Heineken Cup quarter final it was ...(drumroll)... harm, definitely harm. But when a team is determined to exploit the rulebook, I guess somebody's gonna get harmed sooner or later.

Enjoy this bloody tale of attempted cheating on the rugby pitch .

Trigger warning: blood

Hosted and written by: Clara Morris and Will Buikema
Edited by: Will Buikema
Animations by: Phil Pasternak

[nielsrisolo]

Fun fact because there are no helmets in rugby the players instictively protect their head and avoid head to head collision. In american football the percieved protection of the helmet lets athletes lead with their head. And thats why you have more head trauma in football than in rugby

[CYMotorsport]

Making matters even sweeter, I want to say Nick Evans still pushed his drop goal wide lol

[Snookbone]

Dean Richards, the Director of Rugby who was suspended for this incident, is now the Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, where he basically just defends his players taking filthy cheapshots and eye gouging every week.

He never showed any remorse for his cheating in this incident either.

[RileyJane]

We need a Weird Rules on the stupid former AFL rule where a playoff game could end in a tie and then they have to replay the game a week later and the whole playoffs would get pushed back a week and this would even go for Grand Finals too

[hitchikerspie]

OMG you did a rugby video!!!

I think another interesting case would be the 2011 french rugby world cup team who rebelled against their head coach, ran their own training sessions, and only just lost in the final!

[RugbyRyan]

Note: Leinster ended up winning the Heineken cup that year

[osaka]

Incredibly fitting that the team trying elite clownery is called "the Harlequins"

[eliastritter]

Love some rugby content on Secret Base! The 'Scrumgate' controversy of Wales vs France 2017 with supposed fake injuries and almost 20 mins of overtime would be cool for you guys to dissect.

[tedorbach]

Rugby has far fewer concussions than football bc rugby players are trained to not tackle or run in with their head. Any tackle above the shoulders is an automatic yellow or red card.

[charleslathrop]

I just want to say that Clara is really great at this stuff, even improved a lot on rewinders from one or two early ones hinting too early how it turns out, you guys are great.

[BigBlack]

BLOODGATE!

For Secret Base to do a rugby video is insane enough, but THIS TOPIC?!

Secret Base, this is the kind of content that wins. Believe me.

[rileywern]

Used to be a similar thing for the nhl, a high-sticking would draw a 2 minute minor, but if it drew blood it would be a 5 minute major, so players would try to have some type of fake blood ready in case they were high sticked

[harvey]

Rugby’s less dangerous than nfl even without helmets and stuff lol

[PaddyQuiggin]

When Will talked about the "prop department" I was thinking "surely this guy is a fullback" before realising it was nearly the best joke ever but just wasn't meant to be.

[johnmcmorris]

I recommend listening to the Sky Sports' commentary at the time who were also sceptical of the convenience of the injury.

Stuart Barnes: "Who punched Tom Williams? Tom Williams?"

[tomkirkpatrick-brown]

Do a rewinder of Jonny Wilkinson's kick to win the 2003 World Cup

[ZsigE]

Love that you covered Bloodgate! This was in the news for WEEKS over here in the UK, and yes, everything about it is precisely as dumb as Clara says. Great storytelling.

[nickschuman]

So actually, “not wearing a helmet throwing their head into each other” there is no head throwing in rugby it’s safer than American football

[vichano]

Videos with Clara are a joy to watch. Such a great storyteller and clearly passionate about the subject matters she covers.

[alfitesciuba]

From their name Harlequins you can expect such a Carnivalesque joke like this