Rugby’S Wildest Scandals: From Biting Bans To Double Lifetime Suspensions In Socal Spotlight

Rugby Drama Hits Hard: Biting Ban Shocks the Game

Yo, SoCal sports fans, rugby just dropped some serious tea! French rugby sensation Axelle Berthoumieu is making headlines - and not for the right reasons - after getting slapped with a 12-game ban for biting an opponent during a Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final. The incident went down during France’s gritty 18-13 comeback win over Ireland, with cameras catching Berthoumieu seemingly chomping on Aoife Wafer while down 13-0.

Wafer raised the alarm to the ref right away, but the television match official claimed there wasn’t enough proof for a send-off. After a storm of outrage from fans and players alike, though, Berthoumieu was cited, admitted to the red-card offense, and now faces a suspension that’ll keep her off the field until March 2025. She’s already planning an appeal, but for now, this ban’s got everyone talking from Hollywood to Huntington Beach.

“This kind of behavior on the field is a total foul - rugby’s supposed to be about grit, not cheap shots,” a local LA rugby coach weighed in after the news broke.

History’s Heaviest Hits: Rugby’s Biggest Bans

While Berthoumieu’s 12-game timeout is a big deal for 2025, it’s small potatoes compared to some of rugby’s all-time heaviest punishments. We’re talking jaw-dropping suspensions that could rival any Malibu-style drama. Let’s roll through the hall of shame with some of the sport’s most notorious offenders who got benched harder than a Venice Beach boardwalk hustler.

Take Johan le Roux, who bit All Black icon Sean Fitzpatrick during a 1994 Test match in Wellington, earning a 19-month ban and some serious shade from South Africa’s RFU president for “bringing shame” to the nation. Then there’s Richard Nones, a Colomiers prop who copped a max two-year ban for gouging in a 1999 Heineken Cup match - still the longest violence-related suspension on a Welsh field in the pro era.

Julien Caminati’s story is straight-up wild too. At just 18, this French fourth-division player got a three-year ban for spitting at a ref, later reduced to 26 months, only to rack up more time for a drug offense and a punch. These cats played hard, but paid harder - a reminder that rugby doesn’t mess around when you cross the line.

Brutal Attacks and Unforgettable Scandals

Some rugby bans are next-level savage, like Bruno Andres Doglioli’s three-year suspension after attacking a female referee, Maria Beatrice Benvenuti, during an Italian Serie A match. The ref bravely finished the game despite suffering whiplash, while the Italian Rugby Federation dropped the hammer with their heaviest sanction in 20 years, preaching “zero tolerance” for violating the sport’s values.

Then there’s the infamous ‘Bloodgate’ scandal with Dean Richards, former Harlequins team boss, who got a three-year ban in 2009 for orchestrating a fake blood injury using a capsule bitten by winger Tom Williams. It was a desperate move to sub in a kicker during a Heineken Cup match against Leinster, and it dragged rugby’s rep through the mud. Richards bounced back post-ban, leading Newcastle Falcons to a second-division title in 2013, but the stain of Bloodgate lingers like a bad vibe at a Santa Monica pier party.

Shocking Violence and Lifetime Lockouts

Let’s not forget Trevor Brennan, the Irish forward who got a five-year ban (reduced from a lifetime suspension) after attacking a fan in the crowd during a 2007 Toulouse-Ulster match. And Cipriano Martinez? This Argentine prop was banned for 29 years after a brutal head-kick in a 2016 amateur game - his club even threw down a 99-year ban before the official ruling. Talk about a knockout!

Violence on the field doesn’t fly, as an unnamed Namibian player from Grootfontein Rugby Club learned with a lifetime ban for tackling a ref last year. Same goes for Pablo De La Plata, who copped a lifetime suspension (until 2041) after a mass brawl in an Argentine club match in 2016. And Michel Palmie, a French lock, got a lifetime ban in 1978 for partially blinding an opponent with a punch - though, weirdly, he later joined the French Rugby Federation as an official.

The Wild Man of Rugby: Double Lifetime Bans

But the ultimate bad boy title goes to Chris Jones, the ex-Treorchy hooker who snagged not one, but two lifetime bans. Known as a “wild man” who’d kick, punch, and even carry an axe in his kit bag, Jones got his first ban after a brawl following a six-month suspension return. He appealed, came back, and then floored another player, earning his second lifetime ban.

Reflecting on his rep, Jones told WalesOnline, “It was the law of the jungle... I had a terrible reputation. People called me a psychopath.” From biting to brawling, rugby’s biggest bans are a raw reminder that even in a sport as tough as this, there’s a line you don’t cross - whether you’re playing in LA or across the globe.