Solomona to face charge of making homophobic slur
Sale and England wing could miss S Africa tour Worcester fly-half made allegation to referee
Denny Solomona, the Sale and England wing, has been charged by the Rugby Football Union with making an alleged homophobic slur toward Worcester fly-half Jamie Shillcock.
Solomona will appear before a three-person independent disciplinary panel near Stockport next Thursday, charged with “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the Union or the Game”.
A Sale spokesman told The Daily Telegraph that they would “wait to hear the findings of the investigation” before commenting on the allegation.
If found guilty, Solomona, who was one of Sale’s eight try-scorers in a 58-25 victory against Worcester, could receive a ban of six to 18 weeks. Sale have only four Aviva Premiership matches remaining this season, meaning that Solomona could be ruled out of England’s game with the Barbarians at the end of May before the three-test tour to South Africa in June.
Solomona’s two caps both came on last season’s summer tour to Argentina, completing an impressive first season in English rugby union after he had crossed codes from Castleford.
He was sent home from an England camp last August following a late-night drinking session with Manu Tuilagi.
The homophobic slur allegation follows an incident in the second half of Sale’s convincing victory last Saturday at the AJ Bell Stadium, after Shillcock dragged Solomona out of a ruck following a tackle by the Sale wing.
Having returned to his feet, Solomona confronted Shillcock, shortly before referee Andrew Jackson returned to the point of the tackle to award a penalty against Sale.
Shillcock could be heard on the referee’s microphone saying: “A homophobic slur, Sir. Twice.” Jackson subsequently spoke to Sale captain
Jono Ross to inform him of the allegation, before asking Ross to keep his players under control.
France centre Mathieu Bastareaud was suspended for three weeks for making a homophobic slur in a Champions Cup match for Toulon this year, when he was heard on the referee’s microphone calling Treviso forward Sebastian Negri “a f------ faggot”.
An independent disciplinary
panel concluded that Bastareaud’s slur met the low-entry point of six weeks, before reducing the suspension by 50 per cent due to Bastareaud’s guilty plea and the lack of aggravating factors.
Bastareaud missed France’s two opening matches of the 2018 Natwest Six Nations, returning to play key roles in French victories over Italy and England before captaining France in their defeat by Wales.
In the sport’s other high-profile incident involving a homophobic slur, New South Wales Waratahs forward Jacques Potgieter was handed a fine of Aus$20,000 (£10,940), half of which was suspended, after his insult in a match against the Brumbies was referred to referee Craig Joubert by Australia flanker David Pocock. Potgieter was not suspended for any matches.