While the Wallabies are winning matches again, discipline is costing them as they not only internally banned some of their players, but now centre Tevita Kuridrani has been suspended for five matches for the tip-tackle he made against Ireland at the weekend.
The Wallabies were convincing winners in Dublin but in the last ten minutes Kuridrani was red carded for what could be described as a silly, innocuous lifting tackle. These days the law states that it’s a red card, which didn’t affect the match, but he will also sit out the rest of the tour.
Kuridrani was charged under Law 10.4(j) which states ‘Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst the player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play.’
The tackle was deemed to be a mid-range offence (8 weeks). An extra week was added as a deterrent, but it was then reduced by four due to the player’s previous good record, and no doubt the fact that he wasn’t the only player involved in the tackle.
Barring a successful appeal, he will miss their upcoming matches against Scotland and Wales.
“We put a lot of effort into that, because we thought we had a pretty good case,” said coach Ewen McKenzie after the disciplinary hearing, stating that they will probably appeal if they have can.
“We went through it frame by frame for some time. It didn’t look great in real time, but when you go through all the elements, there were other people involved in the tackle, we presented a good case I thought but didn’t get the outcome we wanted.
“He’s available for Super Rugby, that’s the upside, but at the same token he’s got that sitting on his record, so if there was a next time your starting point is way down the track. I’m fully aware of other situations of guys who’ve had multiple situations and got lesser outcomes.
“I feel for him at the moment. You look at like for like, that was part of our case, some of the other judgements that have been passed down,” he added.
Wallaby team to face Scotland:
15 Israel Folau, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Christian Leali’ifano, 12 Mike Harris, 11 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen (c), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga’a, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nic White, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Bernard Foley.
Do you think a five week ban is a fair ruling, or was the Red Card sufficient?
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