IT’S A SLAP ON THE WRISTS
Hogg bemused after Kolisi escapes ban for headbutt
STUART HOGG insists World Rugby’s disciplinary system is too inconsistent after South Africa captain Siya Kolisi yesterday escaped a ban for headbutting Peter Horne.
Kolisi escaped with only a warning from the citing commissioner, despite the governing body acknowledging that he had, indeed, aimed a headbutt at Horne.
The flashpoint came in the first half of a bruising encounter at Murrayfield last weekend, which the Springboks won 26-20.
A World Rugby statement explaining that there were ‘mitigating factors’ read: ‘Siya Kolisi (South Africa) has received a Citing Commissioner Warning from Citing Commissioner David Pelton (USA) for striking with the head (Law 9.12) during the 31st minute of the Scotland versus South Africa November Test at BT Murrayfield on 17 November.
‘Having reviewed the video angles, the Citing Commissioner determined that there were mitigating factors which meant that the action did not meet the red card threshold, including the player being illegally prevented from re-joining the play by Scotland’s Peter Horne and the moderate force of the strike to the side of the head.
‘The match officials did not see the incident at the time on the field of play.’
It amounts to no more than a slap on the wrists for the Springboks skipper at a time when the authorities are trying to push forward an initiative to protect players’ heads at all times.
Just last month, Gloucester’s Danny Cipriani was handed a three-week ban for a far more innocuous challenge than that of Kolisi’s.
Questioning the logic in the decision not to hand out greater punishment to the Springboks flanker, Scotland star Hogg insisted: ‘These things happen, but you do question what the TMO is doing.
‘He can have a look at it three, four or as many times as he wants. The fortunate thing is we got a good outcome on the back of that phase of play, so we didn’t necessarily look back at it.
‘Pete Horne is a hard b ***** who just got on with it. He didn’t whinge about it. We’ve all seen it back now and everyone has got their own views — and mine is no different to anyone else’s.
‘I asked Pete: “Was that a legit headbutt?” and he felt he was headbutted. It’s happened and we can’t do anything about it now. We just have to move on.
‘Player welfare is massive and World Rugby are trying to ensure we are in the safest possible place.
‘I just think there is a severe lack of consistency in all levels of the game now but World Rugby will look at that. They’re in charge.’
Scotland assistant coach Mike Blair was also left surprised by the decision.
The former captain and scrum-half was asked whether he bought the theory that Kolisi was trying to wriggle free from Horne as the two wrestled on the ground at a ruck.
‘You don’t wriggle free with your head, do you?’ responded Blair. ‘When you slow it down in the cold light of day, it doesn’t look like a good challenge or like a fair challenge.
‘We can’t do anything about it now. He (the citing commissioner) has made his decision.’
Blair, meantime, has warned of the threat that a revitalised Argentina will pose to Scotland when they come calling to BT Murrayfield this Saturday.
Much has changed since the Scots thumped the Pumas 44-15 in Resistencia back in June, not least the fact they have a new head coach in Mario Ledesma.
Performances have improved, with their standout result coming in the form of an away victory over the Wallabies, a 23-19 win securing a first triumph on Australian soil in 35 years.
They also beat South Africa 32-19 in Mendoza, with those games coming in August and September in the Rugby Championship.
‘Argentina will have a lot of similar personnel to that game in the summer,’ said Blair. ‘In that sense, the strengths and weaknesses of individual players don’t change. But they are a more aligned unit now, so we’ll have to play better than we did in that particular game.’