FEDERICO Mendez won 74 caps for Argentina, played in three World Cups and won the Heineken Cup with both Bath and Northampton.

Yet for all his honours Mendez will always be associated with a moment of madness when, aged 18, he knocked out England lock Paul Ackford with a cheap shot.

Similarly Ben Flower will never escape the instant when he lost his cool two minutes into Super League's Grand Final at Old Trafford, reacting to a forearm smash by punching Lance Hohaia to the ground and then landing a second sickening blow to the head when his opponent was on the deck.

No rugby player will have woken up on Sunday morning feeling worse than the Wigan prop, not even St Helens' Hohaia, who at least had a winner's medal to ease his headache.

Flower, from Abertridwr, had let his team, his adopted town and his sport down.

What the 25-year-old did was indefensible and nobody would claim it was anything other than a disgusting act. He has been banned for six months and some believe he should also be dealt with by the police.

But rugby has to support Flower and help him come to terms with what he has done when the brouhaha dies down. Some believe six months is lenient but time will drag for the former Newport Gwent Dragons Academy back row forward.

Flower seemed like a very pleasant bloke when I interviewed him over the phone after Wigan did the double last year, but I don't know him.

However, plenty of people whose opinion I really respect, who watched him grow up in Caerphilly and play for Bedwas RFC, vouch for him being a good man.

Flower will unfortunately always be associated with his second punch but he still has years left to make a positive impact on rugby league.

One hesitates to use the phrase that he deserves a another shot given the nature of the incident but a talented player needs the help of the sporting community to make sure that, like Mendez, he goes on to achieve great success.

If he does that then it will show rugby league in a good light as well as Flower.