Davies slams World Rugby over ‘clueless’ non-citing call

FORMER Wales international Jonathan Davies was amongst the raft of people to hit out at World Rugby’s decision not to ban Ofa Tu’ungafasi for his dangerous tackle on Remy Grosso.

The reckless hit left the French winger with a double fracture of his skull, but the citing commissioner, Freek Burger (South Africa), deemed the offence “just short of” a red card.

Davies branded the decision as “clueless”, which is typical of the views of a majority of observers who felt a tougher sanction should have been handed out.

Grosso remains in hospital in Auckland because doctors are concerned about the potential dangers of flying home to France with such serious injuries.

An official statement from World Rugby read:

“In considering the mechanics of the incident, the citing commissioner determined that there were mitigating factors which prevented the conduct from reaching the red card level in his opinion.

“These included Remy Grosso’s body position lowering as he went into contact with Sam Cane, who effected the tackle initially, immediately before Ofa Tu’ungafasi joined a dynamic tackle situation.”

All Blacks flanker Sam Cane also escaped disciplinary action as the citing commissioner agreed with referee Luke Pearce that just a penalty was enough.

The decision is likely to anger the French camp even further after their head coach Jacques Brunel fumed following his side’s 52-11 defeat last Saturday.

Tu’ungafasi publicly apologised to Grosso for the unsavoury incident, but World Rugby’s decision not to ban him will rankle with many for a while yet.