RUGBY’S GREAT LET-OFF
Stars get soft bans after a flurry of ugly incidents
EUROPEAN Rugby mounted a cautious clean-up operation yesterday as Bath flanker Francois Louw was among three players banned for ‘making contact with the eye area’ last weekend.
The South African was suspended until November 6 after pleading guilty at a hearing in London, following an incident in his club’s victory over Italian side Treviso.
Video replays clearly showed Louw pulling Marco Fuser over the top of a ruck, forcing him to the ground and appearing to shove a hand into the lock’s face.
Despite the ugly nature of the footage, a three-man disciplinary panel concluded that the 32-year- old’s offence was at the ‘low-end’ of the scale. The recommended sanction is a minimum four-week ban and it was noted that Louw did not have a clean record, yet he was still given a one-week reduction, meaning he escaped lightly.
Fuser had been cited for biting in the same confrontation, but the complaint was dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
There have been concerted attempts among the sport’s authorities to crack down on the worst examples of foul play, especially those targeting the face or head, but the problem appears to be where the line is drawn between gouging and ‘making contact’.
Last season, Chris Ashton was harshly suspended for 10 weeks for what appeared to be accidental contact with the eyes of Ulster centre Luke Marshall. Earlier this month, Harlequins’ England and Lions prop Kyle Sinckler was banned for seven weeks, despite a panel ruling that he had intentionally placed his finger in the eye of Northampton lock Michael Paterson.
The concern for the powersthat-be this week was the sudden glut of similar offences.
Yesterday, further hearings saw two other players punished for placing hands in the face of an opponent. Stade Francais scrumhalf Terry Bouhraoua was found guilty of that — along with striking Valerii Tsnobiladze of Krasny Yar with his knee. However, the two offences were considered to represent one incident, so he received a four- week suspension, rather than four weeks for each.
Tsnobiladze was also charged and convicted of eye- area contact. His guilty plea allowed him to have the sentence reduced from the stipulated minimum to three weeks, in another display of leniency.
Such offences which are deemed to be ‘mid-range’ lead to a recommended eight-week ban, while for those deemed ‘top end’, the penalty scale is from 12 to 52 weeks.
Leicester flanker Mike Williams was also suspended for one week. He pleaded guilty to charging into a ruck and making contact with the head/ face of Racing 92 centre Henry Chavancy — but the Tigers were alarmed that their player was cited for what they deemed to be a routine and legal act.
In all cases, the player and European Rugby have the right to lodge an appeal within three days of receiving the full written judgement.
Ospreys and Wales hooker Scott Baldwin is on course to make his comeback in Saturday’s Champions Cup tie at Saracens, having been out of action since being bitten on the hand by a lion last month.
Scotland captain Greig Laidlawhis paign country’safter has Clermontautumnbeen ruled Test Auvergneout cam-of confirmed that he broke his leg against the Ospreys on Sunday. The 32-year-old scrum-half does not require surgery but will out of action for 10 to 12 weeks. Gloucester have recalled England No 8 Ben Morgan for tonight’s Challenge Cup game with Agen, his first game since being injured on the first weekend of the season.