Inglis fumes over Merrin 'dog shot'

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Fuming ... Greg Inglis is unimpressed with Trent Merrin. Source: Adam Head / News Limited

Greg Inglis has slammed NSW forward Trent Merrin for a "dog shot" on Brent Tate in Wednesday night's spiteful Origin clash.

Merrin was sent to the sin bin for his punches on Tate as the match erupted in an all-in brawl mid-way through the second half.

Merrin on Thursday morning pleaded guilty to a striking charge and will miss St George-Illawarra's clash against the Panthers at Centrebet Stadium on Saturday night.

Tate, Greg Bird and Justin Hodges were also binned over the fracas, leaving both sides with just 11 players.

Only Merrin and Hodges were cited by the match review committee, although Hodges won't miss any matches despite taking the early guilty plea to a contrary conduct charge today.

"It's pretty bad when you're looking down trying to pick the ball up and all of a sudden you're hit by a fist when you're not looking at the opponent," Inglis said today.

"So I think, in the end, he has every right to call it a dog shot."

Tate was baffled when he faced reporters today.

"I am still not sure what I got sent off for," Tate said.

"If we are sending people off for that, there won't be too many players left on the field.

"But at the end of the day, we have to worry about the image of the game and the message we are sending to the young kids."

Tate said he did not see Merrin's punch coming.

"I was going to get the ball out of dummy-half," he said.

"I was as surprised as anyone when I wore one.

"But it's an Origin match. Those things happen, they boil over.

"I am glad Hodgo had my back."

Maroons prop Matt Scott said Tate's binning was "a bit harsh".

"He was looking down at the ruck (when hit)," he said.

"People push people off tackles in the play-the-ball all the time. There was no reason to throw a punch.

"But there were two passionate teams and that stuff is bound to happen."

Queensland coach Mal Meninga said it was "fair enough" sin-binning a player for punching but hoped what happened to Tate prompted a re-think of the NRL strict new fighting rules.

"What happened was not conducive to four players being sent to the sin bin," he said.

"Then you have a ridiculous scenario of 11 on 11 playing Origin footy when it is so quick.

"We need to look at it again and come up with some reasonable outcomes.

"Both sides have put in a tremendous effort and the headlines are going to be about what happened with four blokes."

- with AAP 

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Webber quits F1 to join Porsche

Mark Webber ... will quit F1 and Red Bull Racing to join Porsche. Source: James Moy / AAP

Aussie ace Mark Webber will quit F1 racing at the end of this year and drive for Porsche in the LeMans 24 Hour race and sports car series from next year.

A statement from Porsche issued tonight said Webber has signed "a multi-year contract" with the German car maker.

"It's an honour for me to join Porsche at its return to the top category in Le Mans and in the sports car World Endurance Championship and be part of the team," Webber said in a Porsche statement.

"Porsche has written racing history as a manufacturer and stands for outstanding technology and performance at the highest level.

"I'm very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula 1. Porsche will undoubtedly set itself very high goals. I can hardly wait to pilot one of the fastest sports cars in the world."

Webber, 36, has already raced at Le Mans twice but his campaign was overshadowed by a dramatic crash in 1999 that saw his Mercedes-Benz do a backflip at 270km/h.

Since he began his Formula One career in 2002, Webber has achieved 36 podium places, nine race victories and has started from pole position 11 times.

He finished third in the 2010 and 2011 F1 championships and is current ranked fifth in this year's F1 championship. His teammate Sebastian Vettel of Germany has won the F1 championship for the past three years and is leading this year's series.

Speculation that Webber would quit F1 this year intensified after the infamous Malaysian Grand Prix in March, when he publicly clashed with teammate Vettel after the German's win.

Originally from Queanbeyan near Canberra, Webber started racing karts at the age of 14.

He won the New South Wales state championship in 1993, and moved into the Australian Formula Ford Championship after his father bought him an ex-Craig Lowndes car. Webber finished 14th in his debut season.

In 1995, Webber scored several victories, including a win in the support race for the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide and finished the season in fourth place.

He moved to England at the end of that year to race in Formula Fords there. During the 1996 British Formula Ford Championship, Webber took four victories on his way to second place overall.

In 1997 he was approached by Mercedes-Benz to race sports car for the German car maker, and drove for them in the 1998 and 1999 LeMans races and sports car series.

He got his break in F1 in a two-day test in December 1999 driving for the small Arrows F1 team.

His chance in the F1 championship came via Minardi in 2002 before switching to Jaguar in 2003 and 2004.

He raced for Williams F1 in 2005 and 2006 before switching to Red Bull Racing in 2007, where he has been ever since.

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Patience wearing thin with JOC, KB

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Partners in crime ... O'Connor (L) and Beale are repeat offenders. Source:AAP

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has castigated serial offenders Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor while frustrated senior players want to put the troublesome pair on a tighter leash.

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Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has castigated serial offenders Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor while frustrated senior players want to put the troublesome pair The two amigos blotted their copybooks again by staying out until 4am just four days before the biggest home Test match since the 2003 World Cup final.

Both were still selected to fill key backline positions in Saturday night's second Test against the British and Irish Lions but largely because sending a much-needed message by dumping them would have jeopardised Australia's chances of keeping the three-Test series alive.

The patience and forgiveness Wallabies players and coaches had for Beale and O'Connor has worn thin and disciplinary issues will be more properly addressed after next week's Sydney Test.

Deans revealed he gave the Melbourne Rebels teammates a bollocking after it was discovered they were at a Melbourne fast-food restaurant on Wednesday morning.

Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver said he was satisfied the pair didn't break any team rules.

"But I'm quite happy to say I'm very unhappy they were out until 3.50am," Pulver said on Thursday. "That's not what I would describe as an acceptable preparation for a Test match."

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It comes after Deans had pushed hard to have Beale available for the important series after serving two suspensions for alcohol issues.

As well as their own individual misdemeanours in the past, including O'Connor failing to attend the 2011 World Cup announcement after drinking all night, the pair were involved in a hushed-up scuffle with Quade Cooper in Paris at the end of 2010.

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Deans indicated senior players would drive to lift discipline and behaviour from the wayward duo.

"We've had a conversation for sure," he said. "It's not the best practice in terms of sleeping habits.

"They understand it was too late for them to get to bed.

"Suffice to say it was not a comfortable conversation."

Deans denied he considered dropping them, while veteran back Adam Ashley-Cooper stressed the message would be rammed home post-series.

"It's not ideal but we're too far into our preparations to let that be a distraction for us," the 78-Test centre said.

With playmaking inside centre Christian Lealiifano overcoming a head knock, Deans backed O'Connor to make a better fist of five-eighth than in the 23-21 Brisbane loss and has kept him in the attacking hot seat.

"It was a very tough circumstance with the disruption and while the performance wasn't perfect ... he'll be much better for an extra week's work and also having a specialist (No.12) alongside him," the coach said.

With his future hinging on the result, Deans also made the hard call to overlook 110-Test flanker George Smith due his five-week sideline stint, and stuck with Liam Gill on the bench.

Beale has replaced fullback Berrick Barnes and Joe Tomane is in for winger Digby Ioane in injury-forced changes while Rob Horne and uncapped Brumbies fullback Jesse Mogg have been added to the bench.

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