Franks suspended for two weeks for foul play
Crusaders coach Rob Penney can scratch another name from his ever-dwindling list of available players ahead of Saturday night’s crunch game against the Blues.
Tighthead prop Owen Franks has copped a two-week suspension for foul play in the final moments of the Crusaders’ 14-10 defeat to the Hurricanes in Christchurch last Friday.
Franks faced Sanzaar’s Foul Play Review Committee (FPRC) on Monday night, and was found to have contravened Law 9.20b for dangerous play in a ruck or maul.
The veteran steamed into a ruck and made high contact with replacement forward Justin Sangster as he tried to clean him out. After he was yellow carded by referee James Doleman, the incident was reviewed postmatch and upgraded to a red-card offence.
World Rugby’s Law 9.20b states that a player must not have contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders. The foul play committee, comprising Stephen Hardy (chairman), Ofisa Tonu’u and Stefan Terblanche, assessed the incident and upheld the red card.
‘‘Applying the World Rugby Head Contact Process, the FPRC assessed the player’s actions as including direct head contact with the shoulder, that was reckless, made at high speed, in dynamic play with the player colliding with a high degree of force.
“There was no sudden or significant change in height or direction (or any other relevant mitigating factor set out within the Head Contact Process) to result in mitigation sufficient to downgrade the incident to a yellow card.”
The entry point for the offence was four weeks. Franks was given a two-week discount for entering an early guilty plea, among other relevant mitigating factors. He is also eligible to apply for the head contact coaching intervention process, which would further reduce his suspension by a week, meaning he could be free to face the Chiefs in Christchurch on Friday week.
When asked about the yellow card to Franks after the game, Penney defended the 108-test All Black’s actions. “Owie is a big beast of a man, steaming in to do a job at the breakdown, and he’s [Sangster] popped his head up,’’ the coach said. “It’s like an oil tanker, you can’t turn him around in a second.’’
Penney will today make his team public for the match against the Blues at Eden Park, and will likely have loosehead prop Joe Moody back from Covid. With Tamaiti Williams unavailable due to a hamstring injury, he could opt to ask George Bower to provide tighthead support behind Fletcher Newell.