During the final game of the rugby league World Club Challenge, former NRL player Mitch Garbutt landed a punch on James Tamou, knocking the towering North Queensland Cowboys forward to the ground.
NRL premiers North Queensland faced reigning UK Super League champions Leeds Rhinos in the last of the competition's three games. With the Cowboys well ahead and only 8 minutes remaining on the clock, Tamou objected to a grapple tackle from Rhinos forward and former Wests Tigers big man Keith Galloway. During a scuffle, Garbutt stepped in and put one on Tamou's chin, sending him to the pitch.
Garbutt, formerly of the Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos, was sent off for the remainder of the game. The Cowboys ended up dominating the cross-continental contest 38-4.
Punching has been outlawed in Australian rugby league for years now, and while it briefly excites the fans, seeing Tamou hit the turf like this amid the country's crisis with one-punch attacks, was a sobering reminder that this sort of thing is best left out of the game altogether.
