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
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[@nielsrisolo7548]

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

[@weirdofromhalo]

The helmets also make head-to-head collisions and trauma worse.

[@beastlydookie81]

@@weirdofromhalo thats not true 😂. I can imagine the comment above being true but wearing a helmet wont cause more damage than not wearing on

[@weirdofromhalo]

@@beastlydookie81 There's research on how helmets actually make head trauma worse.

[@SoftBank47]

You gotta tackle right in rugby. Otherwise, your head turns into putty. Also, there's the high tackle rules.

[@Thor-Orion]

@@davidmichaelhurley4507 and the opposing player wearing a helmet essentially turns them into a battering ram.

[@CYMotorsport]

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

[@MrAzijn]

Hey cranky! Love your channel man

[@aok2075]

I'm guessing a drop goal is a drop kick field goal. Basically a punt and a field goal combined. Moral of the story: they ruined their careers for no reason

[@euanrobinson]

@@aok2075 yeah that's about right

[@kgowins97]

@CYMotorsport Omg Nick!! Are you a harlequins supporter?

[@messaoudanekamel7277]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3zJnpWFacuif7M

[@RileyJane7]

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

[@analcommando1124]

they already did an AFL video on having 19 players on a the field at once and having your score wiped

[@RileyJane7]

@Crunch Bar No, they should go to Overtime like in any other sport

[@RileyJane7]

@Crunch Bar With Aussie Rules scoring, if it's still tied after 2 overtimes, something wild has happened

[@CTback]

He saw St. Kilda blow it against Collingwood.

[@hardcoreharro]

That happened for Rugby League I think until 1990. The 1977 NSWRL Grand Final ended with St. George vs Parramatta 9-9, then they played again a week later and St. George blew out Parramatta 22-0. Edit: It was in the 80's when it changed.

[@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.

[@TheJudoJoker]

Legend

[@DanCap123]

And then calls out Saracens for being dirty cheats (technically true, but hypocritical)

[@jonmel]

Dean Richard when a player was also dirty

[@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!

[@id-mic]

Honestly you could make a series about French rugby

[@sachinbangaru737]

That famous french mutiny cause they could only have 1 cup of pudding for desert 😂😂

[@messaoudanekamel7277]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3zJnpWFacuif7M

[@kstxevolution9642]

I love secret base to death but Americans have no clue about rugby

[@RugbyRyan]

Note: Leinster ended up winning the Heineken cup that year

[@LemurJackson]

Wow all dozen fans must have been really excited

[@malachymccabe3772]

@@LemurJackson 66,500 people went to watch the final that year alone

[@malachymccabe3772]

@@LemurJackson thousands of people showed up to the parade after they had won it

[@jayrodr897]

The moral of the story is never underestimate the Irish when there's something alcohol-related on the line

[@rileywern9619]

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

[@gakk8658]

I don't know if any player ever got caught with fake blood but for sure most guys who get high-sticked immediately claw at their face to make sure any potential wound is bleeding as much as possible.

[@CrescentCitySweaters]

Four minutes, it’s a double minor

[@estellegrignon]

The double-minor rule still exists, and it's hilarious to see players be disappointed when they realize they aren't bleeding

[@theshevanel]

As others stated, blood is a 4 minute double-minor, not a major.

[@OwlRTA]

@@theshevanel it used to be a major

[@tedorbach3430]

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.

[@kobinho1917]

They're also not carrying all that extra weight

[@TheParkerThirteen]

the helmet does nothing to stop concussion. If anything it's worse for concussions because they think they're protected so they take less care with using safe techniques.

[@JosephSarabia]

They're also not wearing pads, so hard tackles would probably hurt you worse than the other player.

[@TheParkerThirteen]

@@JosephSarabia if you learn how to properly tackle, like all rugby players do, you can hit people as hard as you want and feel no lasting effects. If they were to just hurl their bodies around like NFL players they would definitely get injured, but you're taught to not do that on day 1 of training when you are like 6.

[@WannaBuyAGate]

I always felt tackling people left me way more sore than being tackled. Maybe I just like hugs tho

[@osaka199]

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

[@eliastritter6497]

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.

[@id-mic]

Yes please watching this live was hilarious

[@davidheard3964]

This was the match you remembered that Wayne Barnes is a lawyer and some of the discussions between him and the French medical staff felt more like courtroom proceedings.

[@allyboorman612]

Why did you remind me of that it was so dull and so interesting at the same time, players had yellow cards and came back on it was mad

[@Mikegaryhouse]

That was an insane end to a game.

[@ShaunshankRedemption]

I'm pretty sure they stopped the clock more than they should have too purely not to reach the 100 minute mark. Fiasco.

[@tomkirkpatrick-brown3276]

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

[@MrDefleppard123]

Yesssss! I second, third and fourth this notion!

[@BoganFromBama]

Or Joel Stransky's drop goal in the 1995 RWC for the Springboks.

[@wowdogememe1541]

Nah Steven Donald's 2011 world cup kick is a better story

[@BigBlack81]

All those are good...but we need a rewinder on The Miracle Of Brighton! Japan!!!

[@Anthony-mt7qr]

I feel like Beaver's story gets a rewind video, I mean here with have the like fourth choice fly half not even picked for the World Cup squad, who has been out of the National team for some time, is off fishing for whitebait when he gets a call from Graham Henry and makes that kick. Yeah the kick is a Rewind video because it fits the criteria of a rewind video. Brighton could get it's own video, that's more of it's own thing, and I'm sorry but as a very proud English Rugby fan, I would rather a video about Beaver over Johnny because it would be better.

[@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.

[@chadowen4766]

ALMOST, dangit. 🤣🤣

[@nickschuman4652]

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

[@carp3649]

There kinda is though. You're putting your head down, trying to smash through with your shoulder but inevitably you'll hit your head. The big difference is usually, only one player in rugby is moving fast and the contact on range of angles hits come in on is much narrower. There's still a CTE problem in rugby. It's nowhere near the same as american football, you're not diving to make a catch and getting blown up mid air.

[@wadedevinney9681]

From what I gather, rugby tackling is more of a dragging down than a big hit, which is actually probably harder but safer.

[@carp3649]

@@wadedevinney9681 There are still big hits, but they're much rarer. The three most common tackles are: fast moving carrier runs into stationary defender, who falls backwards to make tackle; fast moving carrier grabbed and pulled down by fast moving defender; slow carrier tackled by fast moving defender. The last set is the one you might call a 'hit', usually when a player has just caught the ball and a defender has charged forward to make the hit. The 'grabbed and pulled down' on the second set is the difference with american football. A wide receiver at full speed isn't going to be pulled down because every yard matters, the defender wants to hit him to stop him. In rugby, you'd rather secure the tackle and give up the yards.

[@CapnWatson]

To be fair, "safer than American football" is a pretty low bar. There are war zones safer than American football

[@charleslathrop8309]

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.

[@tyes77]

Only downside I would say and just stick with the story and cut out the segment you try to play it off as a conversation. Really draws you out of the story and too distracting. Its really annoying

[@tyes77]

@Crunch Bar Yup. I enjoy the other videos and this kind of conversation like storytelling made me skip ahead in the video due to how cringe the guy is.

[@tyes77]

@Crunch Bar Doesn't change it feels too cringey with the fake conversation. This video was worse than usual so thats why I hope they can stick to the topic instead of the cringey false conversation and awkward laughing

[@benjaminrei1319]

@@tyes77 i think people are really not on your side here

[@jknintendo]

@@tyes77 the conversation is literally half of the appeal of weird rules as a series. The series has always been "heres a story about a weird rule and our subsequent reactions to said weird incident"

[@harvey5721]

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

[@grempal]

Yep, because rugby players learn to not tackle with their faces.

[@CDCrest]

Rugby is pretty tame

[@michaelodonnell824]

Possibly, though, Tom Brady is still playing at the highest level well into his 40s, while in Ireland, there's currently serious concern that our best out half is 36!!!

[@grempal]

@@michaelodonnell824 The difference is that Tom Brady has 5 guys whose sole job is to make sure he doesn't get tackled where as a 9 or 10 has 3 or 4 guys trying to tackle him at any given time and no one to block them. Its frankly amazing that that difference only knocks like 5 or 6 years off a career.

[@BigBlack81]

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.

[@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.

[@vichano2783]

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

[@SimuLord]

Smart, loves sports, and cute besides. Where can I find a woman like that?

[@vichano2783]

@@SimuLord found the simp

[@SimuLord]

@@vichano2783 Unashamed. She's setting a standard.

[@alfitesciuba4464]

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

[@wowdogememe1541]

They actually won the premiership this year with a very Carnivalesque style

[@johnmcmorris4035]

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?"

[@staidenofanarchy]

When my friends ask me what it's like to play rugby, I tell them you used to have to tape your ears over to avoid them getting ripped off.

[@SimuLord]

"Damn, why didn't I think of that?" - Evander Holyfield

[@danieldennes4425]

Really? I only ever used it to prevent cauliflower ears

[@kstxevolution9642]

I'm a prop myself, and I wince when I see any ruck or scrum from before the 90s

[@theshevanel]

I, too, remember that Rocket Power episode. Lol.

[@staidenofanarchy]

@@theshevanel ayyyyy

[@alexpratley9300]

A classic scandal, pure nostalgia. & great "mighty mighty Quins" reference, killing it with the research as per

[@frozenlotus3563]

Weird rules is my favorite. I love the convoluted plans that come out of people who know the rule books this well.

[@EmmaBonn96]

Coming from this from a pro wrestling perspective is certainly interesting

[@proffesionalidiot5994]

Blading?

[@EmmaBonn96]

@@proffesionalidiot5994 yes

[@stoozdee]

We need you to get color tonight, brother.

[@charlestoncooper5265]

fr he could have bladed at least it’s believable

[@gavincairns3542]

so i was at this game when the bloodgate happened and looking back on it, Tom Williams was no where near play when he reached to get the capsule out of his sock which was silly and then winking back at Nick Evans as he came off the field was also very silly thing to do

[@roadhouse1697]

You’ve done one on Rugby!! Life is complete!! Such a great topic too!

[@Eurynomos326]

He said that the wink was because some of his team mates didn't know the plan, and were telling him he should keep playing.

[@spideyrox8520]

I don't think you've covered this one before but a good one of these would be the never-ending second from women's fencing (epee) in the semi-finals of the 2012 olympics.

[@euanrobinson]

So glad you guys finally covered bloodgate, great to see a rugby video on the channel ♥️

[@RugbyRyan]

Finally a rugby video!!!!!!!!! I’ve been waiting years

[@atomic_bear]

Please please please make a rewinder about Japan VS South Africa from 2015

[@RugbyRyan]

I constantly ask for this and never get it

[@atomic_bear]

@@RugbyRyan At least we have the first rugby video

[@michaelhall5429]

@@RugbyRyan hard agree.

[@michaelhall5429]

@@RugbyRyan been asking for Don Bradman for five years straight. Stick with it, who knows.

[@charlcoetzee3358]

Please no. It still hurts.

[@Jimbo-wx9pu]

The putting things in your sock is a common practice. I play rugby and it’s the most common place amongst the teams I’ve played for to store you’re gum shield.

[@thetroyzernator]

Leinster went on to win their first Heineken Cup that year en route to winning three out of four and becoming arguably the greatest club rugby team in the world. Nearly didn't happen because of Bloodgate.

[@analcommando1124]

pretty sure the Crusaders were a better team.

[@cdmacd]

Love the rugby content!! Happy to see more mainstream media channels produce content on my favourite sport. I hope there will be more in the future 👍

[@Mikegaryhouse]

Great to see a rugby video from you guys!

[@afitzpatrick2050]

This is one of the funniest sports stories I've ever heard. They really gone cut that man lip🤦‍♂️

[@jimmythebusdriver]

I was in London when this happened! I knew absolutely nothing about Rugby, but it was on the news everywhere.

[@MiniSkirtMusic]

“Prop department” made me lose it

[@jasonkaplan8733]

You guys need to make more rugby videos

[@id-mic]

OMG a rugby video!!!! Pleaseeee so a video on Italy vs England , where Italy exploited a no ruck rule and England had no clue how to defend against it. When they ask how do they defend against it, the ref said "I'm not your coach, I'm the referee" or something along the lines of that

[@zyaicob]

And then Eddie got mad and world rugby changed the law which actually backfired on England because it put Courtney Lawes offside for the charge down that created Underhill's try that would have won them the game against the All Blacks

[@codfishbricker]

I'm kinda jealous of who Will is as a person. It took me a long time to understand there's a lot of important things inside of my head. To be fair rugby is VERY EDUCATIONAL. Years of hockey never taught me the importance of what's in my noggin', but receiving a career-ending concussion during an inner-squad scrimmage 3 weeks into my rugby "career" did. It also taught me: 1. losing the ability to read for any period of time sucks 2. There's this important thing in your head called the vestibular system which is at least partially composed of fluid in your ear canals...and its possible for it to be displaced if you get whalloped hard enough. 3. Post Concussion Syndrome machine go brrrrrrrrt 4. I forget

[@CH-kl9qd]

Not wearing a helmet is much better for the players, they tackle with proper form rather then using a helmet as a weapon

[@titmanmd]

bad news buddy, rugby still has a huge concussion issue

[@mnm1273]

He said better Matt. Rugby having a high concussions rate doesn't mean it wouldn't be worse with helmets.

[@CH-kl9qd]

@@titmanmd never said it was an end all be all solution Matthew, solid reading comprehension you’ve got.

[@pretzelhunt]

@Crunch Bar They shouldnt but they do, and it's increased helmet to helmet, even if unintentionally. theres 4 of those calls per game now.

[@CH-kl9qd]

@Crunch Bar that’s a pretty naive comment dude, there’s helmet to helmet contact on virtually every play and it’s human nature to lower the head. Not to mention the targeting calls haven’t gone done at all. Trying to justify one sport or the other being better for concussions is a never ending convo. All I said was you’ll be far less likely to lead with your head and dive head on without a helmet on. Every contact sport has concussions so that isn’t really an argument either.

[@nonamelegend_vapor]

5:43 “Are we not doing phrasing anymore?”

[@dylancarpenter7902]

Massive W from you guys. Thank you for covering this!!

[@johnjesberger5676]

This was hilarious. Secret Base is such a great channel.

[@crans15]

You guys should do a Rewind ep on Quade Cooper’s match winning kick vs. South Africa and Johnny Wilkinson’s World Cup final winner.

[@endraw_]

Good to see rugby getting the recognition it deserves

[@Bryan-qd4fk]

Rugby is less dangerous than football in terms of concussions. In rugby, you aren't trying to stop someone from gaining one extra yard. You're trying to get them down as quickly as possible to steal the ball. The best way to do it doesn't involve bringing your head into the tackle.

[@Mighty_Atheismo]

Clara Morris is quietly one of the funniest SB presenters. Love her vids so much.

[@tomasmartinez655]

This reminded me of an incident that happened in a football (soccer I guess) world cup qualifier match between Argentina and Bolivia in the 90s. Julio Cruz, Daniel Passarella and A ghost cut that changed sides on the face to get a match suspended. It was a national scandal and Great story you should definitely look it up.

[@SomeOfTheJuice]

I was gonna say "who carries a blood capsule with them to a rugby game??" Then Clara dropped the bomb that they had done this FOUR TIMES BEFORE and I was like "damn, they must have a stockpile of them in someone's bag in case of emergency after the first time!"

[@Butterratbee]

I remember this being a huge story in England at the time

[@sagacious03]

Neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

[@catherinegalanti3219]

RUGBY FINALLY ON SECRET BASE!!

[@HoodKombo]

5:50 Well done Will for the unintentional "prop department" pun

[@Alejandro-xz9kd]

i love this series

[@freeminerz]

Secret Base did a rugby video! And it's about my beloved Harlequins! Oh. It's about Bloodgate. Now I'm sad.

[@MrReese]

For some reason I really like listening to Clara.

[@bluetannery1527]

Love this. I also wanna see that video on the '98 British Grand Prix won by Michael Schumacher!!

[@SimuLord]

It's wild how just about every sport now has a codified version in the book of "the Magic Johnson Rule."

[@47eoghan47]

What

[@SimuLord]

@@47eoghan47 The NBA was the first sport to have a "blood rule", which they put in after Magic Johnson announced he'd tested positive for HIV 30 years ago tomorrow (November 7, 1991.) FIBA put in a similar rule for the '92 Olympics, and most other sports followed with a rule that was basically cribbed from the NBA's version.

[@wowdogememe1541]

@@SimuLord Actually Rugby League may have the NBA pipped they had their Blood rule introduced in the NSWRL 1991 season which started in early 1991

[@SethKasso]

Not how I expected that title to play into the story. I was thinking renegade doctor playing secret agent for another team.

[@auspistic]

I think Tom Williams just snapped. He made it very clear that he couldn't possibly have been the mastermind and forced an investigation, leaving a ton of evidence that it was a team issue.

[@ianw1976]

Can you make a video about how in the CFL you can win by missing a field goal? See BC 18, TOR 17, 2019.

[@route2070]

Tom Williams, "Ooh a YT video from the US about Rugby........ No note this again!"

[@Kaiasky]

Clara does a great job hosting this weird rules! Has she done any other videos on the channel? I don't think I've watched her before

[@theobuniel9643]

She does a lot of videos on this channel; in fact she’s one of the regulars here. A lot of recent Rewinder videos have been narrated by her.

[@thebrotherhood227]

She’s not great at the reminder videos but pretty good at this She needs someone to feed off imo

[@TylerGutwein]

I see rugby and I click

[@albertmotbey1128]

I remember there was a rugby league coach who did this during a grand final and won because he found a way to infinitely substitute players

[@wanderlustwarrior]

Of course a team named the Harlequins would have a prop blood capsule.

[@Connor-vj7vf]

Once again, please do the last minute deeney goal against Leicester for a rewinder

[@MrML4L]

pictured that differently in my head.....

[@StevenSeagal9]

Reminds me of the fielding sub and retired injured/ill rule in cricket on a daily basis- but granted it wasn't this egregious

[@marianobirdman8124]

A similar thing happened with Julio Cruz, argentinian football player against Bolivia. He faked a punch to the face and doctors in order to make it more real cut him. The thing is that the doctor cut the wrong side of the face.

[@WannaBuyAGate]

Fun fact instead of runnning far away from the team after this Tom Williams ended up playing with Quinns until 2015 and winning a championship title in 2012

[@chamelius]

Ahh, yes... The good ol' Knife-Ball... an Oft Overlooked ball design....

[@msdsez]

Tom probably got hit on the head too many times to remember why he was even playing the game in the first place.

[@555dking]

I played for 12 years. American football is more violent. Rugby is amazing! Give it a shot mate

[@americaisopentoinvasion]

"I've been poisoned by my constituants!"

[@cheighes1]

Can I offer you an egg in these trying times?

[@michaelhall5429]

Sir Donald Bradman please sb Ed. Ooh rugby. Nice.

[@cardellhardy6361]

Coleslaw episode starting with the 2006 chicago bears until now and reminder the double doink!!

[@fakeascanbe423]

"Before you talk to investigators, put this OTHER capsule in your mouth..." 😈

[@bennettflynn5278]

I really wanna see more rugby content

[@VincentDJohnson]

YES! A rugby video!

[@yoboypoptart6192]

Do a deep rewind of Game 5 of the 2017 World Series

[@dingerboi4]

Can you guys do something on the turnaround of Kansas State football especially of the 90’s?

[@zubizuva]

Blood Injury is the name of my new death metal band.

[@DesertEagleSam]

Cant believe blood gate is getting covered here

[@mollyanderson657]

Could you guys do a beef History based on the Sport of Rugby?

[@clindberg1]

can a pitcher use this to circumvent the 3 batter rule?

[@asemahlemahlangu4325]

Please do a rewind of the 1995 rugby World Cup

[@christeebs]

I'm sure I'm not the first to say it, but the lack of helmets actually leads to fewer concussions

[@therandomguy519]

Thumbnail was all I needed to know this was Bloodgate

[@JackMcSomeone]

I don't know what's more violent. Rugby or Aussie Rules football

[@gabewillis4743]

American Football is more dangerous that Rugby

[@TheArtist_promoter]

These two should just go on a date

[@jonathanzuckerberg8850]

The next step of this is for a team to get "blood" on the opponent's best player to get him removed from the game

[@iangalt6899]

Oh yay, Bloodgate. One of my favorite cheating scandals. Unimportant. I have never been able to get out of my head since the Max McGee video that Clara Morris and I went to the same shitty high school

[@tedwards4150]

Blood Time can be for anything, depends on the ref, sometimes a minor bloody nose will get called and sometimes a gash on the head won’t it’s weird

[@churdle92]

Blood Injury is the name of my heavy metal band

[@connor107]

Sounds a bit like Crashgate in F1

[@jo3ld0wn]

You don't truly know who you are as a person until you've played a rugby match