Our Top 10 looks at the unbelievable ways players have managed to get themselves into trouble with the judiciary.
OVER THE YEARS SOME PLAYERS HAVE SHOWN CONSIDERABLE IMAGINATION IN THE CRIMES THEY HAVE COMMITTED TO EARN HEFTY SUSPENSIONS.
THE BRASS NECK OF IT
During the course of his long and illustrious career, former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw was subjected to all sorts of violent acts.
He was head-butted, eyegouged, tipped on his head, high tackled and stamped on.
But in a 2006 Super Rugby match against the Hurricanes he was, would you believe it, strangled, although the culprit was never found or punished.
That's right McCaw was held around the throat by someone for 24 seconds and came perilously close to passing out on the pitch,.
The incident occurred at the bottom of a ruck so was never captured on TV and McCaw, who was never one to go public about the treatment he received, said nothing.
He did, however, tell Crusaders management that he was starting to panic before his team-mates came to his rescue and physically restrained the opposition player.
LIVING THE HIGH LIFE
Former England prop Matt Stevens was in the unusual position of being both an international class tight forward and an excellent singer.
In 2009 he was given the opportunity to appear on a celebrity talent show and he captured the nation's attention with a stunning repertoire of songs.
He was mentored on the show by Sharon Osbourne, made the final and with it shot to fame.
But with his celebrity came the celebrity trimmings and he tested positive for cocaine and earned himself a two-year ban.
Stevens did return from his ban and win back his England place and even went on to play for the Lions.
“I'll always regret, of course I will,” he said when he returned to the England fold. “But every day now I'm looking forward - to playing rugby, to being with my new family, to all those amazing things I've got in my life.
“I no longer look back, because I don't need to.”jump in it with me.”
VENTER TAKES THE BISCUIT
Proceedings became almost farcical late 2010 when Saracens coach Brendan Venter was fined $21,000 and banned for 14 weeks.
The former Springbok was disciplined for comments he made about the referee after his side had lost 25-23 in a European Cup game.
He was understandably asked to face a judicial panel as a consequence but it was at his hearing when things turned ridiculous.
As he left the room to let the panel consider the evidence he took a biscuit that he was offered. He was still eating that biscuit when he returned and the panel's head, Judge Jeff Blackett, accused the coach of treating the process with disdain which no doubt increased the sentence handed down.
But as Venter explained: “The whole biscuit thing was an accident. We had been sent outside to await the verdict. There was a plate of biscuits and I took one.
“As I took my first bite they called us back in. It was like 'come in, come in, come in, they're calling you'.
“I had nowhere to throw the biscuit. I couldn't drop it on the carpet. So I walked in with it and took my last bite inside the room.
“I didn't go in and deliberately eat the biscuit in front of them. If that is how it was seen then honestly it was not my intention.”
NO LEG TO STAND ON
Following a ProD12 match between Glasgow and Munster in 2015 accusations were made that the Scottish side were deliberately looking to injure Conor Murray.
The Irish halfback said that Glasgow players were not attempting to legitimately charge down his box kicks but were instead throwing themselves at his standing leg.
He said it was cynical and orchestrated and wasn't the first time that the club had tried that particular tactic.
“I’m properly pissed off about that,” he said. “I don’t see any benefit in charging down someone’s standing leg. I only see it as a danger or as a potential to get injured.
“I don’t think it’s a good tactic. You could put another label on that type of tactic, but they did it to us at Thomond Park, they got our scrum-half Te (Aihe Toma) with it in the league game and they almost got me a couple of times.
“So, luckily my leg came out of the ground and I managed to fall over, but if my leg stayed in the ground — especially in that surface — you’re looking at syndesmosis, you’re looking at cruciate (ligament).
“I’m not blaming the players. I don’t know who told them to do it but it’s dangerous. It’s very dangerous and thankfully I didn’t get injured but if I had have been injured I would have been going on more of a rant.”
A NASTY SPAT
There are plenty of acts of thuggery that have landed perpetrators in hot water with the judiciary but in 2013 Stade Francais halfback Jerome Fillol found a novel way to pick up a 14-week ban.
In the first half of the European Cup clash against Bath, Fillol and opposite halfback Peter Stringer were legitimately wrestling for the ball when the referee blew for a knock-on.
The two little men continued to grapple for the ball and when they eventually stopped there was a bit of push and shove. That ended when Fillol spat in the face of Stringer.
“The judicial officer found that Fillol had spat in the face of Stringer and that it had been an intentional, deliberate and grave act,” explained a European Rugby Cup (ERC) statement.
“He determined that the act warranted a top-end entry point from the IRB’s sanctions for spitting and considered that 26 weeks, from the available range of 11 to 52 weeks, was the appropriate entry point.”
Stringer said after the game that spitting on an opponent was “as low as you can probably go”, and followed that by tweeting that he was “disgusted”.
JOE’S LOW BLOW
Former England prop Joe Marler found himself in big trouble in 2016 when he verbally abused Samson Lee of Wales.
The two were in the midst of a torrid scrummaging battle when the Englishman tried to unsettle Samson by calling him “Gypsy Boy”.
The reference was a highly offensive derogatory term as Lee comes from a travelling family who for generations have lived in caravans and move from site to site.
Marler was banned for two matches and fined $40,000 for using “unsporting and discriminatory language towards Lee”.
The judicial panel found his actions, “breached World Rugby Regulation 20 (which covers statements that are unsporting, insulting and/or discriminatory by reason of race or ethnic origin) and the code of conduct and brought the game into disrepute”.
PERCY THE PUSHOVER
It was a massive rush of blood to the head in the heat of an ill-tempered battle that led to Springboks fullback Percy Montgomery being served with a six-month ban.
Montgomery was playing for Newport against Swansea in 2003 in a Welsh Premier League game that was fiery and spiteful.
Scuffles frequently broke out one of which between Newport's Mike Voyle and Swansea prop Tim Evans led to both players being red carded.
With tempers boiling over Montgomery made the ill-advised decision to push over one of the assistant referees after Newport had conceded a try.
Newport team manager Jim McCreedy suggested after the game that Montgomery had been provoked.
“A number of players allege that something was directed at Percy. We will have to interview him to establish the background to the incident. He is obviously devastated.”
But after his hearing in which he was also fined $30,000 Montgomery offered no excuses.
Montgomery, 29, had enjoyed a blameless disciplinary record before the incident, something that was taken into account.
“I have never had a yellow card in my career before this, let alone been sent off. “I can't remember punching anybody during my career. I have never done anything like that. But rugby is a physical sport and every player has done silly things during a game.”
THE SNOT BOMB
Cheetahs centre Nico Lee found a particularly disgusting means to earn himself a 13-week ban when he fired a 'snot bomb' into an opponent's face during a ProD14 game.
Lee was charged with unsportsmanlike conduct when he basically blew snot at Connacht flanker Colby Fainga'a.
The 24-year-old admitted he “cleared the contents of his nose onto the face of an opposing player thereby committing an act of foul play.”
“The player's actions are an act of foul play. They have no place in the game,” the Pro14 body said.
“This is not a case of over-exuberance, or an act which is within the rules of the game going awry. It follows that by its nature, this act is one that is deserving of punishment. It is contrary to the spirit of sport.
“The effect on the victim player was understandably serious. There is no expectation, and there ought never be an expectation, that an opposing player would clear the contents of their nose on to an opponent.”
RUPENI'S LONG HOLIDAY
In 2005 Rupeni Caucaunibuca earned himself a 12-month ban from the Fijian national team for simply not turning up.
The brilliant wing was selected to attend a training camp in Fiji but didn't come. The Fijian Rugby Union had flown him home from France but Rupeni didn't actually make it the to camp.
Then he was selected for tests – one of which was against the All Blacks – and he didn't turn up, eventually exhausting the patience of then coach Wayne Pivac.
Rupeni was banned for 12 months or would have been had he not suddenly started playing brilliantly for his club Agen.
Pivac decided to let the former Blues wing join the Fijian side for their opening match of the Pacific Five Nations in 2006 against the Junior All Blacks in Suva.
An FRU statement explained why the band had been cut short. “The original ban was to run through to August but he has been in constant contact with coach Wayne Pivac over the past few weeks and appears very serious about making amends.
“The FRU board thus agreed to reduce the ban, bearing in mind he had already missed out on last November's tour to Europe as well as the Commonwealth Games.”
Rupeni also agreed to pay back money he owed to FRU and to follow team schedules properly.
BRENNAN GOES BALLISTIC
Trevor Brennan entered the record books in 2007 for achieving what no one else has done and earning himself a life ban. The punishment was severe because the crime was spectacular. The Irish international was playing for Toulouse against Ulster in the Heineken Cup. He was warming up getting ready to go on from the bench when he says he was provoked by derogatory chanting from the crowd. Rather than let it wash over him, Brennan decided to climb into the stand where he repeatedly punched an Ulster fan who required extensive hospital treatment.
An ERC statement read: “It was the view of the committee that Mr Brennan's behaviour was completely unjustified and that he caused serious harm to an innocent spectator and significant damage to the image of rugby union.
“The committee could not envisage a more serious misconduct in relation to spectators and believed that the maximum permissible suspension was appropriate.”
Brennan, who was 33, decided to retire early as a result of the lifetime ban bringing the curtain down on a career that saw him sign o as a tough but ultimately ruined character.