St George Illawarra Dragons forward Tariq Sims has spent 20 minutes in the sin bin during the opening 35 minutes of Sunday afternoon's clash against the Brisbane Broncos.

The first sin bin came just minutes into the contest, with Sims making what was ruled to be a late tackle on Brisbane halfback Adam Reynolds.

Reynolds has been nursing a rib injury of late, and came into the game under a fitness cloud - one he will likely spend the rest of the season under.

It clearly made Reynolds an early target for the Dragons, with the half hit by Sims in a late shot which had him sent to the sin bin in just the third minute.

Despite the contact seeming to be not late enough to warrant any extra penalty than an on-field whistle from the referee, Sims was sat down by referee Grant Atkins for ten minutes.

Sims had only been back on the field for around ten minutes when Brisbane, working it out of their own end, were struck down by what appeared to be an error.

With a captain's challenge being called for, an immediate review by the bunker before the challenge had been made saw referee Atkins call Sims out and send him to the sin bin for a second time, with the Dragons' forward making clear shoulder to head contact.

There was some suggestion he was lucky not to be sent off for the second offence, with the Broncos scoring both of their first two tries during Sims' two trips to the sideline.

Sims is yet to face a charge from the match review committee this year, meaning he will be only up for first offence charges.

The late shot on Reynolds would only likely be a dangerous contact Grade 1 charge, if anything at all, with a fine the result.

The second charge - likely to be deemed a shoulder charge - will land Sims with two or three matches on an early guilty plea if he is charged with a Grade 2 or 3 offence, while a Grade 1 offence - which seems unlikely given the severity - would result in a fine.

1 COMMENT

  1. Perhaps not as dramatic as Barbecue-gate, but in the same way that the incident marked the end of the Dragons’ 2021 chances, this can be seen as the end of the Dragons’s 2022 chances.

    Down to 12 men for a big chunk of the first half, they burned a lot of energy, and let in two tries while Sims reflected on his folly. They were unable to come back, and I’m now putting a line through their chance of making the eight.

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