Sinckler banned from Six Nations opener against Scotland
BRISTOL Bears’ star tight head prop Kyle Sinckler will miss the Gallagher Premiership derby with Bath and England’s opening game of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations.
An independent RFU disciplinary board have handed the 40-cap prop a two-week ban after he was cited by Duncan Bell for swearing at referee Karl Dickson during Bristol Bears’ 20-7 victory over Exeter Chiefs on Saturday to go top of the Premiership after six rounds.
Sinckler was heard over the referee’s microphone to yell: “Are you f*****g serious?” after fellow England international Luke CowanDickie, of Exeter Chiefs, low chopped him with a no-arms tackle.
Dickson replied. “If you scream at me like that again you will leave the field. The language you used is unacceptable.”
After looking at the incident with the TMO, referee Dickson - who was a former team-mate of Sinckler’s at Harlequins for five years - decided to award a penalty against Cowan-Dickie for the tackle, with neither the Bristol or Exeter player punished further.
However, the citing charge was brought against Sinckler for failing to respect the authority of the match official, contrary to World Rugby Law 9.28.
Sinckler, 27, immediately recognised he had made a mistake and took to Twitter quickly after the game to write: “Want to apologise for my reaction today. Not the example I want to be setting. Heat of the moment stuff. Will make a conscious effort to improve. My bad.”
Despite that, Sinckler contested the charge with the disciplinary panel but it was upheld anyway.
The independent disciplinary panel said: “Kyle Sinckler accepted that he used foul language at the referee, he did not accept the conduct warranted a red card.
“The panel viewed the live recordings of the incident and were satisfied that his shout of ‘are you f*****g serious’ was aggressive and was directed at the referee.
“It followed almost immediately after the referee explained he had determined that the Exeter Chiefs player who had tackled Kyle Sinckler had attempted to wrap his arms. Kyle Sinckler turned his head towards the referee before he shouted at him. On review with the TMO the referee did penalise the player who had tackled him.
“The player was candid in is evidence as to why he had done so and regretted his actions. The panel found his actions disrespected the authority of the referee and it was in breach of a core value of rugby - respect of match officials - and warranted a red card.
“The panel determined that in all the circumstances it was a low
entry point with no relevant mitigation. The sanction is a two-week ban.”
With organisers of the Heineken Champions Cup, EPCR, postponing European fixtures over the next two weekends due to the French government’s concern at spreading
the new strain of Covid-19 in an inter-border competition, and Premiership Rugby opting not to bring forward league games, Sinckler’s ban will rule him out of the Bristol Bears versus Bath derby on January 29 and England’s opening Six Nations game against Scotland on
February 6. In truth, Sinckler was always likely to miss the Bath fixture with England internationals expected to be in training camp with the national side that weekend. However, it has been counted toward his ban. He will be available to play again on February 9.