Not good enough

Like the Quinnell family, I am somewhat shocked by the Welsh Rugby Union's decision to drop a citing complaint over an incident that led to Gavin Quinnell losing the sight of one eye.

The incident occurred last October when Quinnell was playing for Llanelli against Cross Keys, following which an unnamed Cross Keys player was arrested by Gwent Police. After the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring charges the matter was investigated by the WRU who this week came up with the following statement:

"The WRU disciplinary panel did not uphold the citing and a subsequent appeal lodged by Llanelli RFC was dismissed by the WRU appeal panel."

Not good enough. As far as I am aware, the WRU have given no reasons for their decision. Is it a question of insufficient proof (which in itself is a sorry state of affairs), or was Quinnell in some way culpable?

Whatever the reasons, this is a career ending injury for a 26 year old and the WRU owe Quinnell and his family somewhat more than this terse statement.

Meanwhile I see that Mark Cueto has been cited for making contact with the 'eye or eye area' of Northampton lock Christian Day last weekend. TV pictures show Cueto pushing his fingers into Day's face (near the eyes) during a fight in Saturday's Premiership match. Cueto will find out his fate on Monday and faces a minimum 12 week suspension if found guilty. My question, however, is this:

What on earth was he doing fighting with a 2nd row?

This has to stop

My thoughts go out to Gavin Quinnell, brother of former Wales forwards Scott and Craig and son of former Wales and Lions legend Derek, following reports that he has permanently lost the sight in his left eye following an incident during Llanelli's Welsh Premiership game against Cross Keys last weekend.

At any age that's a pretty horrific thing to happen and at only 26 years old it looks as if that's his professional rugby career over.

The fact that the Scarlets and Llanelli RFC have lodged a formal citing complaint with the WRU and that Gwent Police are also investigating an allegation of assault, suggests that the injury may have been the result of a deliberate act.

If that is the case I can only hope that the perpetrator is dealt with in the strongest possible manner - this kind of cowardly attack simply must be eradicated from the game and if it takes a life ban and/or a prison sentence to achieve that then so be it. If I was Gavin I'd also be instructing solicitors to sue.