Tate demands action on lifting
Scott feels on top of world after so much work
Queensland winger Brent Tate feared he would suffer a similar devastating injury to Alex McKinnon after being the victim of a dangerous tackle at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
Tate made an emotional plea for rugby league officials to come down hard on lifting tackles after being cartwheeled by NSW pair Josh Reynolds and Beau Scott in the State of Origin opener, won 12-8 by the Blues.
‘‘I’ve never been more frightened in all my life,’’ Tate said after the thrilling match in Brisbane.
‘‘My legs were shaking for a good 10 minutes after that.
‘‘I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared in a rugby league match as that. I didn’t know where I was. We’re trying to stamp this sort of stuff out.
‘‘I had absolutely no control of where I was going. It gave me a big fright.’’
Reynolds was charged with a grade-two dangerous throw after being the main offender in lifting and flipping Tate on his back.
The Blues’ five-eighth will be banned for two matches if he takes an early guilty plea and, with his club Canterbury having the bye this weekend, he will miss Origin II in Sydney on June 18 unless he is successful in having the charge downgraded.
NSW back-rower Scott was hit with a grade-one charge and will escape suspension if he takes the early plea.
Newcastle utility forward McKinnon suffered a serious spinal injury after a tackle gone horribly wrong in March in a match against Melbourne.
Storm forward Jordan McLean later copped a seven-match ban for a dangerous throw.
‘‘My family came down and said the last thing they want to do is be sitting beside my bed like an Alex McKinnon situation,’’ said Tate, who has been plagued by neck problems during his career.
‘‘You can’t have it in our game. It’s got to stop. The NRL has to get serious and start cracking down on it.
‘‘We’ve already had an unfortunate incident. Are we going to be sitting beside someone else’s bed before we crack down on it again?’’.
Queensland players rushed in to support Tate but the situation was quickly defused.
‘‘Tatey was pretty rattled when he was on the ground,’’ Maroons forward Corey Parker said.
‘‘He’s a good mate of mine and my main concern was to make sure he was OK.’’
NSW skipper Paul Gallen downplayed the incident, saying Tate was put in a dangerous position but ‘‘landed flat on his back’’. In more ways than one, Adam Scott feels on top of the world going into this week’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio where he has always loved the leafy Muirfield Village Golf Club layout.
The Australian could hardly be playing better, having clinched the Crowne Plaza Invitational in a playoff on Monday, and he will be making his second consecutive appearance on the PGA Tour since replacing Tiger Woods as world No 1.
‘‘It’s great to be back here,’’ Scott said yesterday. ‘‘It’s a course I like very much. I feel like it sets up well for me and I’m playing well. I’m going to try and keep the momentum going after last week.’’
Asked how satisfying it had been to win a tournament in his first week at the top of the golf rankings, Scott replied: ‘‘It’s satisfying, absolutely.
‘‘But I think all the things I did leading up certainly helped put me in the right mindset to play well last week. It took a couple days for it to show up really on the weekend, but that’s when it counts.
‘‘And I think getting to No 1 was such a journey and so much work went into it, I wasn’t going to settle for just staying there for a week.’’
Scott clinched his 11th title on the PGA Tour by beating American Jason Dufner on the third extra hole at Colonial Country Club after starting the final round two shots off the lead.
The 33-year-old readily conceded, though, that he had given very little thought as to how he would try to maintain his place as world No 1.
‘‘When you’re a kid dreaming of being No 1 and you’re out on tour when you’re [aged] 19, 20, you think you’re going to roll into it and it’s not really the case all the time,’’ Scott said.
‘‘It does happen for some but it wasn’t the case for me. A lot’s gone into it. And I felt I was No 1 by such a small margin last week, it was motivation just to stay there for another week.
‘‘I’ll have to take it week by week and run with that, because it worked last week. It certainly was a fun experience last week to be No 1, and then to win the tournament will make it a pretty sweet memory for my career.’’
Seven of the world’s top 10 players are competing at Muirfield Village this week and Scott will tee off in high-profile company in today’s opening round.
The Australian will play with compatriot Jason Day, the world No 7, and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, the former world No 1.