PS : I have never condemned the man as Scum or anything­ else - I condemn his actions and his actions condemn­ him. Up to then I thought he was a hard, very high­ quality flanker. His actions totally detract from that.

markear1 & ptothej, You are defending the­ indefensible ! Slow motion reply or not, there is no­ doubt that Quinlan gouged Cullen - he is 'bang to­ rights'. Yes, I have played rugby, for over 40­ years, and at a very high level in Wales, England and­ South Africa and against some of the hardest and­ dirtiest @#$% ever (Bobby Windsor, Mike Burton and­ Moaner Van Heerden come to mind) and I still maintain­ gouging is the lowest thing you can do on a rugby field­ - and it is always from behind, thus making it a­ coward's action. I stand behind my assertion that,­ after his actions, Quinlan has no right to be a British­ and Irish Lion now.

He deserves a ban, it was very deliberate, it was so­ evident on the TV, Leo Cullan was pissed about it and­ rightly so, the commentators remarked on it, I guess my­ main reason is that if he gets banned it opens up for­ Tom Croft to join the squad, he has to be there with­ his speed, athletisism, and all round options. Sure­ it's going to get nasty with the Boks and we need­ enforcers but I think we have enough of those -­ O'connel and company can take care of it but we­ need some match winners such as Croft

Bigrich:I got it wrong about the IRB but Mcgeechan is­ not judge and jury. An independent committee will­ decide his faith. I'm not defending what he has­ done, he will probably get suspended but the knee jerk­ reactions that you lot are talking about makes it out­ like he knifed someone in the back. I don't know if­ any of you guys actually play rugby but I do and the­ best thing about rugby is that it's extremely­ physical, sometimes you get caught up in the moment and­ do something stupid. I know I have. It does not mean­ the man is scum.

Bigrich, I know exactly what gouging is and the­ implications.and what mitigating circustances did i­ attempt to introduce pray tell?
What I'm trying to­ do is not be such a dramqueen, you see one slow motion­ replay and you have all the facts? Get over yourself!­ there's people who know a lot more than you or me­ about rugby and they have set up a process for dealing­ with citings. Booting him straight off the lions panel­ is just rediculous!

ptothej, Gouging is the most despicable thing you can­ do on a rugby pitch. There is no excuse or mitigating­ circumstances and you sohould be ashamed that you have­ tried to do introduce any.

Furthermore, neither his own club nor the IRB have any­ definitive sanction power in this matter. The game was­ played under the control of ERC and only they have the­ power to suspend. I trust and hope they will use it to­ the maximum.

'hard men don't sneak up and try and maim a­­ player from behind when he is on the floor'
What­ game were you watching Bigrich?? What I and everybody­ else saw was a slow motion replay of a close up on­ Cullens face and a hand drag accross it. I certainly­ didn't see anyone sneaking up from behind! Did­ anyone else??

McGeechan has the absolute power to pick or replace any­ player that he wants. That was the remit under which he­ took the job of Lions Coach. Quinlan should be removed­ before the day is out. There is no possible excuse for­ what he did and there should no route for him to escape­ the most severe of punishments. How can he ever play­ with Leinster players for the Lions or Ireland ever­ again ?

If the powers that be suspend him, I will accept it but­ it is ridiculous to think that McGeechan has or should­ have the power to punish a player playing in a club­ game outside his remit. The IRB or his own club are the­ only people who can punish him and thats the way it­ should be.

He must be released from the Lions squad immediately,­ replace him with Croft. The eye gouging was obviously­ intentional, Leo Cullen is being a gentleman in his own­ way by not complaining or stirring up the situation.

I am really concerned about the lack of comments from­ Orange2Tuf over the last three days following his­ beloved Munster getting stuffed up the butt and Ronan­ O'Useless living up to the reputation of arch­ bottler. Can we organise someone to drag the Shannon­ because I think he might have jumped in at around 5pm­ on Saturday !

should o driscoll also be cited for the near removal of­ o garas ear ?

"He is one of the founding members of the charity­­ to help players how have been seriously injured­ playing­ rugby".
Looks to me as if he was trying­ to recruit Leo Cullen to that very unfortunate group.­ Cullen could have been blinded, how would you try and­ excuse that ? As I said below, despicable and cowardly­ ! And, please don't tell me Quinlan is a real hard­ man who plays on the edge. He was way, way over the­ edge and hard men don't sneak up and try and maim a­ player from behind when he is on the floor, cowards do­ that ! It's high time we put a years ban on anyone­ gougeing.

McGeechan must take the initiative and remove him from­ the Lions squad forthwith. None of this 'innocent­ until proven guilty' nonsense. Everyone saw the­ incident on TV and it was a despicable and cowardly­ action. We do not want individuals who behave like this­ in rugby.
I am not interested in who replaces him as­ long as he is replaced - immediately !

Gone................Croft will take his place real­ shame he was over the moon to be going but the tv is­ fairly conclusive

ban him and take tom croft a much better open field­ player and he never lets side down also never seems to­ have a bad game either

He did it, and he got caught for it. Its a shame for­ him, with his lions tour gone, but he has no one to­ blame but himself.

Might I add that Martin Corry was banned even though­ the contact was deemed to be accidental. I don't­ know whether he deliberately went for the eyes, but he­ seemed to deliberately go for the face. He should get­ banned- a swipe at the face is just as deserving of a­ ban as someone who eye gouges. The length of ban is the­ only variant.

Lets not kid ourselves here , Martin Corry has just­ ended a 6 wk ban for making contact with the eye area ,­ he is 1 of the most honest players ever to take to the­ rugby pitch , Quinlan always plays on the edge but in­ real time or slow motion it was intentional , he knows­ it we all know it , why was he so quick to apologise­ after the match , reason being he knew what he had done­ & the consequences were sinking in , he deserves a­ lengthy ban .