Australian lock Rob Simmons and New Zealand flanker Adam Thomson who both played for the their countries last weekend and were cited following acts of foul play will both be missing from their respective teams’ lineups this weekend. However, that is where the similarities end as Thomson received a one week ban for his stamp on Scotland’s Strokosch’s head, while Simmons received an eight week ban for a ‘tip/spear’ tackle on France’s Yannick Nyanga.
It has been reported in the Australian media that the Wallabies may not be happy with the length of Simmons ban compared to that of Thomson.
Full story as follows courtesy of abc:
The Wallabies are expected to appeal the severity of the eight-week ban handed to lock Rob Simmons for a lifting tackle against France last weekend.
The suspension was dished out to Simmons at an International Rugby Board (IRB) disciplinary hearing in London on Thursday (AEDT – Australian Eastern Daylight Time).
Reserve lock Simmons lifted France flanker Yannick Nyanga during the Wallabies’ 33-6 European tour opening defeat in Paris on Saturday.
Simmons’ absence from the weekend’s clash with England is particularly costly coming on the back of a run of injuries that have ruled out David Pocock and Kane Douglas this week.
Centre Pat McCabe is the latest to withdraw from the squad with a neck injury.
Simmons’ ban came on the same day the IRB gave a one-week suspension to New Zealand’s Adam Thomson for stamping on the head of Scotland’s Alasdair Strokosch during the All Blacks’ 51-22 victory at Murrayfield last weekend.
The apparent inconsistencies of the two bans are believed to have the Wallabies puzzled and looking for answers from the IRB.
Judicial officer for the IRB Robert Williams, who heard Simmons’ case, said the forward’s tackle was at the high end of the scale of sanctions.
“We’re disappointed in the decision but I haven’t had the opportunity to read the decision yet and obviously we’ll do that before we settle on whether that’s the end of the matter or not,” Deans said.
“There is the potential to appeal but we’ll have to consider his decision, the wording of it, the transcript of it … it’s not something we would do lightly.”
Meanwhile former England hooker Brian Moore described Thomson’s suspension as “ludicrously lenient”.
Thomson was given a yellow card for the incident with Scotland coach Andy Robinson later commenting the All Blacks back-rower was lucky not be sent off.
Simmons wasn’t given a card during the Stade de France clash because neither referee Nigel Owens or his touch judges saw who made the tackle.
IRB chief executive Brett Gosper responded to Moore and others who made similar complaints over the verdict on Twitter.
“The IRB will review this case as it is a match under our jurisdiction. If we decide to take action we will make it public,” Gosper said.
Samoa centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu slammed the Thomson verdict and compared it with the three-week ban he received from England’s Rugby Football Union last year for tweets about English player Owen Farrell.
“I got 3 weeks for sarcastic tweets. So had I just rucked Farrell’s head I would have got only a week? Its just so comical these days,” Fuimaono-Sapolu said.
Is it true that the Wobblies are considering wearing white armbands with the slogan ‘Justice for Rob’ on it on Saturday?
Saw both incidents…
Let’s take Adam Thompson’s trample first… was not a hard trample and Strokosh’s head was over and very close to the ruck ball which had to come out. Look, trampling on a head is not condoned, but hell that Strokosh did not make one little attempt to get out of the way and deliberately slowed down that ball, by any means knowing full well how well he was protected against foot rucking under the modern laws of rugby.
I have no problem with only a 1-week ban for this offence.
The tip / tackle by Simmons in my mind was not very bloody dangerous either… and we have to be very weary of taking too much physicality out of rugby tackling. So an 8-week ban in my eyes is extremely harsh.
The problem does not seem to be that Thompson got 1 week, the problem clearly is the inconsistency in metering out punishment for similar severity or degrees of foul play.
This needs to be adrressed by the IRB, and clearer guidelines need to be laid down in general and to judicial officers… so that at least there is some parity in metering out punishment.
1 @ fender:
Hahaha
“Free Bobby”
Just shows how the IRB handles the Kiwis with kid gloves. While I did not see either incident (could only watch some French Top 14 in Thailand), the disparity between the punishments handed out does seem ludicrous.
Afternoon all.
Just my 2 cents – speaking to people and watching rugby shows like “Boots and All, Reunion, Super-rugby” you hear this type of comment over and over, for years on end – there is NO consistency.
It totally F’s my brain that the IRB hasn’t found a better way to deal with these types of incidents. It seems a fairly simple situation to solve.
5 @ GoBokkeAndIreland:
Unfortunately the IRB is a lot like SARU… farkall forward planning and everybody not willing to make telling decisions!
2 @ grootblousmile:
Have to agree, it is the inconsistency in dishing out the punishment. That is what has to be addressed.
Just found a Scottish Blog. Had to laugh, us rugby supporters no matter which country or team we support we never happy with some players getting selected. We all the same the world over……hahahaha.
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