Rugby player found guilty of manslaughter...

This decision came down today...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/05/28/castillo-guilty.html

I played competitive rugby for 13 years and have seen my share of crazy accidents on the field. I don't agree with the judges statement that the rules are the same on and off the field. Rugby is one of the roughest sports to play and there is an expectation of physical abuse to a certain degree. I've seen my mate's neck get broken when a scrum collapsed.

I don't know how this judge came to a clear conclusion with so many witnesses telling conflicting stories of how it all happened, whether or not play had stopped etc... if this was something that happened outside of the normal play, away from the group, after play had stopped and was clearly intentional, then I can see how this ruling would make sense, but there's no way to make that call based on what was presented in court.

One kid's life has been ruined, and now another's.

I'd be curious to hear the gmhockey.com's thoughts on this as there are parallels to hockey and what happens on/off the ice.

I will be the first to admit I don't know much about Rugby except that a scrum can get pretty nasty and things can happen, but this incident doesn't sound like one of those cases, he literally picked the guy up and slammed him on the ground, whether intentionally meaning to drop him on his head can be debated and I don't believe a teenage boy would knowingly do that, so the only conclusion I can draw about this was it was a very unfortunate turn of events that will haunt this young man forever and the other young man's parents forever. really sad it is.

I just wish there was more concrete evidence to this such as video of it happening or some consensus among witnesses...