Two men, one victim, shattered bones, 19,250-plus witnesses.

In other circumstances, Nigel Vagana would be sweating it out after his straight-arm challenge on Paul Deacon left the Bradford Bulls and Great Britain star with severe facial fractures that at one-point appeared life-threatening.

Vagana was given a £500 fine and a one-match ban.

In the real world he could well be looking at a charge of assault which carries a maximum six-month sentence or £5,000 fine.

But sport is not like real life. It is a microcosm of society, with all the ugly bits magnified.

Rugby League is one of the highest impact sports known to man - it slips out of the remit of full contact into the category of collision sports.

Aggression is not just an inevitable component, it is a vital one. But there is still a line of acceptability.

One of the biggest keys to it is what the psychobabblers call arousal - the stuff that gives you butterflies, makes you want to spew seconds before kick off and gives you the Linford Christie eyes as you zoom into 'the zone'.

The more physical a game, the more you need. Archers can only cope with a small amount or their aim will wobble, while the huge physical effort of making a rugby tackle or throwing a jab in the ring needs tons of the stuff. Anyone who's ever dismissed it as 'mental' is more on the money than they know.

Ever wondered why footballers kick wooden boards before going through the tunnel? Or why the Kiwis perform the haka? Well, it's not to get dry mud off the boot or wave 'hi' to the missus in the fifth row. It's about getting psyched up.

But if that arousal bubbles over, the line between assertion and aggression disappears under the red mist. All control is lost, frustration sets in and you've got an 'A' bomb waiting to blow in your mind.

Links have been drawn between Brian O'Driscoll's 'disrespect' of the haka and his pole-axing by a Keven Mealamu and former international fair-play award winner Tana Umaga spear tackle seconds later.

The jury is still out on Vagana v Deacon and it's not hard to see why. But maybe it's time 'the line' became clearer - for everyone's sake.

Updated: 10:13 Saturday, November 19, 2005