CJ van der Linde headbutt on Sam Cordingly

Springbok tighthead prop CJ van der Linde has been cited for a head butt following Australia’s 27-15 victory over South Africa in Durban on Saturday. The result of the hearing is due to be announced later today.

Flying into a ruck head first, Wallaby scrumhalf Sam Cordingly received a bullet-like head square in the face, and was probably lucky to have not been badly injured.

Watching it again, it’s difficult to comprehend exactly what Van der Linde’s intentions were, as his shoulder, arms, and the rest of his body were nowhere near making contact with his target. Clearing out a player aggressively is one thing, leading with your head is another. He should know better.

Van der Linde was lucky to escape being sent off so early in the match, as the incident happened right in front of referee Lyndon Bray, who was probably too shocked to fully comprehend what he just saw. Bray did give a penalty though, which resulted in an easy three points for the visitors.

Utter stupidity I’m afraid, and Van der Linde now faces a disciplinary hearing and is sure to be on the sidelines for a good few weeks, ruling out the rest of his Tri Nations, compounding the Springbok’s misery after their poor showing on the weekend.

Australian loose forward, and Man of the Match, Rocky Elsom was also cited after being penalised four minutes into the second half when he pulled Springbok captain Victor Matfield down in a line-out.

It looked fairly innocuous, but Matfield came down awkwardly and in a bizarre repeat of the

John Smit/Brad Thorn incident

, has twinged his groin, possibly ruling him out of next weekend’s Ellis Park clash.

We’ll await the disciplinary hearing rulings, and if Elsom does actually get suspended, which I doubt will happen, then we’ll get the video up for you to see anyway.

As for CJ, expect nothing less than a two week suspension for his moment of madness.

—————

UPDATE:

Van der Linde

has received a

one month suspension.

He denied targeting the head of Cordingly., but did acknowledge that it was an illegal and dangerous attempt to clear out.

Rocky Elsom

has been handed a

one week ban

for his illegal tackling of Matfield in the lineout. After a video review, the offence was viewed as dangerous, resulting in the suspension.

PLEASE NOTE:

This video has been removed by Mediazone, who own the rights to the footage and no longer allow us to use it. Apologies from our side.

Time:

02:20