The problem is that even if you filter the RST, the state transition
occurs at the side which receives the SYN and generates the RST. This
means that the connection has been desynchronized and will eventually
come down, no further data transfer is possible.
Although it doesn't follow from earlier text, on page 71 RFC 793 states
that an in-window SYN should reset an ESTABLISHED session. So you are
right. This is very bad.