Player Brutally Punched Out Of Rugby Grand Final Surprisingly OK With It

St. Helens halfback Lance Hohaia, forced to leave Saturday's Super League Grand Final after being concussed by a pair of obscene punches from Wigan's Ben Flower just two minutes into the match, was pretty mellow about the whole event afterward and dismissed it as the sort of thing that happens sometimes in rugby league.

The fact that St. Helens were able to leverage the extra man after Flower's expulsion to win the title by a 14-6 score helped:

Obviously I'm disappointed that I didn't get to play a bigger part in the game but we got the result and the small part that I played is enough to get the ring. I'm pretty happy about that.

I don't remember the incident. People have told me what happened, I guess I was hit around the head somewhere. Sometimes these things happen in the game.

In the heat of the moment, people do some things they regret. I've done some silly things on the field myself so I don't hold any grudges against Ben. He's probably disappointed in himself for not being able to play a part in the game as well.

That's remarkable grace, right? Ball's in your court, NASCAR.

[ BBC]