Hoeata, Lienert-Brown handed five-game bans
South African Brendan Venter is a 1995 Rugby World Cup winner and a former assistant coach of the Springboks. Taranaki lock Jarrad Hoeata and Canterbury prop Daniel LienertBrown have both been handed five-game suspensions following their send-offs in last Saturday’s clash in Christchurch.
Hoeata became the first player red carded during the Mitre 10 Cup season after referee James Doleman gave him his marching orders in the sixth minute for punching Canterbury openside flanker Tom Christie.
Duty judicial officer Nigel Hampton QC found that Hoeata’s action was deliberate and deemed a mid-range offence with an entry point of six weeks.
An additional week was added because of the 35-year-old’s previous judicial record, but a reduction of two weeks was allowed as a result of Hoeata’s immediate admission of wrongdoing and apology.
Hoeata will miss Taranaki’s last-round fixture against Wellington in New Plymouth tonight, and four further matches yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile, LienertBrown was eventually handed the same penalty, after his 56th minute red card for headbutting Taranaki hooker Ricky Riccitelli. Hampton considered submissions from Lienert-Brown, who claimed he misjudged the distance between himself and Riccitelli but admitted his wrongdoing and had earlier voluntarily offered an apology to his opponent. The entry point sanction for what was found to be mid-range offending is 10 weeks, but the 25-year-old’s clean record, immediate admission and apology earned him a 50 per cent reduction in sanction. Lienert-Brown will sit out Canterbury’s clash against Counties Manukau in Pukekohe tomorrow night, his team’s semifinal next weekend, and the final, should Canterbury make it.
The other matches he will miss are still to be determined. Stuff