Tuilagi's Sponsored Mouthguard?

Manu Tuilagi has been fined £4,800 by Rugby World Cup officials for wearing a sponsored mouthguard during the win over Georgia.

Really is this the best they got, surely this is just another case of the RWC/IRB dirty tricks campaign against England.

Firstly to see a mouthguard he would have to be seen smiling which lets face England have had very little to smile about, and secondly who cares if his wearing a sponsor on it, we can't see it!

What about all the players boots at the world cup, they have logos on?

In this case, i'd get the tin foil hat out if i were you! Alesana was fined for the same thing!

Alesana fined too, which country does he plays in???????????

Sorry just seen there is another article on this subject, I'll crawl back into my hole now.

What is laughable is that Manu coloured in the logo on his gumshield so no one could see who the manufacturer was...

...and the IRB still fined him.

Do they have someone hiding in the stands with a zoom in camera to find these evil crimes against humanity?

BTGOG

I know the IRB are not targeting us but your initial reaction is spot on who cares what gum shield they use….IRB making mountains out of mole hills.

I would not even have know him or his brother were in breach of sponsorship rules had the IRB not pointed it out, kind of silly really giving the sponsor air time another IRB crusade in futility.

Well the rules are there. If England can't stick to them, even though everyone else can why should they be excused?

To be fair, the rules are that you can't wear any sponsered gear unless the sponsers are affiliated with the RWC. It's daft I know but if his brother got fined he must've known. The interview with him on SSN is quite funny, he's taken it pretty well and warns other players not to do it.

mckay1402 wrote:Well the rules are there. If England can't stick to them, even though everyone else can why should they be excused?

But Mckay rugby is about bending the rules until they are broken, just!

have you never played the game?

What is laughable is that Manu coloured in the logo on his gumshield so no one could see who the manufacturer was...

...and the IRB still fined him.

He didn't for the first game. He found out he'd messed up and coloured it in after that.

From his interview with the beeb;

"We always wore the same mouthguard, mine is the England one from the under-18s, but it's not allowed in the World Cup," added Tuilagi

Sounds like an innocent mistake, I feel for him because I know even with a specialist molded mouthguard it's not always as comfortable as you would like, when you get a good one that's fits just right you really want to hang on to it. I find it a nightmare to get one that fits nice and tight and gives the right protection without interfering with my ability to yell instructions to my backs when I'm at ten.

He blatantly knew he wasnt allowed to wear it as he 'black it out' Why risk it ?

Seems these young England palyers love a bit of attention and controversy

munkian wrote:He blatantly knew he wasnt allowed to wear it as he 'black it out' Why risk it ?

Seems these young England palyers love a bit of attention and controversy

I thought it had been widely reported by now that he was fined for wearing it in the first game - before he blacked it out. When he heard about the "offense" he blacked out the sponsors name - and escaped a second fine

There seem to be a lot of people here making provocative posts about England players when they dont really know the full story

BATH_BTGOG wrote:Manu Tuilagi has been fined £4,800 by Rugby World Cup officials for wearing a sponsored mouthguard during the win over Georgia.

Really is this the best they got, surely this is just another case of the RWC/IRB dirty tricks campaign against England.

Firstly to see a mouthguard he would have to be seen smiling which lets face England have had very little to smile about, and secondly who cares if his wearing a sponsor on it, we can't see it!

What about all the players boots at the world cup, they have logos on?

Interesting that the IRB have picked on the only Samoan in the England squad. Perhaps they really are racist?

BATH_BTGOG wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Well the rules are there. If England can't stick to them, even though everyone else can why should they be excused?

But Mckay rugby is about bending the rules until they are broken, just!

have you never played the game?

yes I do play. I play in the Victorian manner. I play to the laws of the game and try not to take an unfair advantage over my opposition. It may be a mental deficiency but I would feel like I had not won properly had I deliberately broken the rules to gain advantage. Not only that but I play in the front row as well.

He blatantly knew he wasnt allowed to wear it as he 'black it out' Why risk it ?

He blacked it out after the first game when someone obviously pointed out that he wasn't supposed to be wearing it.

It's not a sponsered mouth guard either, it merely has a logo on it much like the shirts/boots/socks/shirts etc all do.

But Mckay all forwards cheat!

TheGreyGhost wrote:

BATH_BTGOG wrote:Manu Tuilagi has been fined £4,800 by Rugby World Cup officials for wearing a sponsored mouthguard during the win over Georgia.

Really is this the best they got, surely this is just another case of the RWC/IRB dirty tricks campaign against England.

Firstly to see a mouthguard he would have to be seen smiling which lets face England have had very little to smile about, and secondly who cares if his wearing a sponsor on it, we can't see it!

What about all the players boots at the world cup, they have logos on?

Interesting that the IRB have picked on the only Samoan in the England squad. Perhaps they really are racist?

Please get this guy of these forums, the amount of muppetry this guy writes! jeez

Mods can you merge with https://www.606v2.com/t15344-controversy-england

They havent just picked on Samoans, lots of players have been fined.

The reason the Samoans got in the parers is because first of they whinged about it ( the racism angle) and the NZ media hyped this up, then when its an England player its obviously major international news.
Its happened to many other players but goine unreported...partly because the IRB havent been issueing press releases to try and avoid the manaufaturers name getting into the press and giving them more free publicity.

This sort of thing happens all the time in major sporting events. There were a lot of problems with bat stickers at the cricket world cup for example. Comapnies pay top dollar to have their name associated with a sporting event, they arent happy and wont continue to do this if other comapnies find cheaper backdoor ways in.
It seems petty but its the way things are.

Was Manu wearing the same brand of mouthguard for England as Alesana did for Samoa?

Apparently so GG. Same brand, different design.

TheGreyGhost wrote:Was Manu wearing the same brand of mouthguard for England as Alesana did for Samoa?

Not sure, apparently it was an offical England one from when he played age group level. He just hung on to it.

BATH_BTGOG raises an interesting point regarding boots. Are they an exempt article?

I would assume most boot suppliers are already sponsors.

If you look at Victor Matfield he always has the logo on this scrum cap covered up because he wears RugbyTech, which aren't an official sponsor. If someone was wear boots that were not made by official sponsors the logo would probably be covered as much as possible.

@johnpartle

I would imagine that either most the major boot makers have IRB clearance or because it is essential kit they can’t do anything to vet it. How ever gum shields and scrum caps are not essential and sometimes you see players cover the badge on their scrum cap.

Another good question would be could you wear a branded gum shield if it was the same brand as your boots, i.e. Nike or Canterbury?

its ridiclous that someone is fined purely for having the 'wrong' mouthguard one!

TheGreyGhost wrote:Was Manu wearing the same brand of mouthguard for England as Alesana did for Samoa?

It wasn't just the same brand it was the same mouthguard. In fact it's the main reason that Manu plays for England - they reckoned there would be fewer clashes when they would both need it at the same time.

I heard that Haskall was fined because Brand Haskall was not an officially sanctioned sponsor

G2 wrote:I heard that Haskall was fined because Brand Haskall was not an officially sanctioned sponsor

Didn't Johnno say that the Brand was officially sanctioned along with Hartley and Ashton and might indeed have involved a fine.