Why should Thorley pay for defending himself?

There is virtually universal support for the current clampdown on tackles involving contact with the head, but events last week must raise questions about whether the disciplinary process in the Premiership is working.

- COLIN BOAG

In the English judicial system an offender can sometimes get a reduced sentence for pleading guilty, and rugby’s disciplinary procedures have a similar feature, although the logic behind it is far less obvious.

In the real world the theory is that it reduces the impact of the crime upon victims, it saves victims and witnesses from having to testify, and is in the public interest in that it saves time and money on investigations and trials. That makes perfect sense, but I don’t accept that any of those reasons apply in a meaningful way to the RFU’s disciplinary hearings: there generally aren’t ‘victims’ in the same way there are for crimes, they don’t need to turn up to testify, and there’s still going to be a hearing irrespective of the plea.