27 Responses to Rugby World Cup 2015: Match Officials – Quarterfinals

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  1

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 9:55 pm

  Sean O’Brien gets 1 week ban for his punch on Pape. Not sure about all the others who were cited yet.
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  2

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 9:57 pm

  Am expecting 3 week ban for Jonny Gray and that Ross Ford gets no sanction.
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  3

  MacroPolo on 13 October 2015 at 9:57 pm

  @ Bullscot:
  Fair judgement, sanity prevails. One week is not alot, but a world cup play off should count like 4 normal weeks.
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  4

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 10:19 pm

  3 @ MacroPolo:
  Not so sure Macro this happened very early in the game and if I am correct he didn’t get carded for it so Ireland gained a lot from this as O’Brien played a big role for them especially considering who of his team mates went off injured. Not saying it cost France the game but if your start Man of the Match player (O’Brien) wasn’t there even if only for 10 minutes who knows what would have happened. Had he been red carded in the game Ireland would have been down to 14 for almost a whole game and in that case only a 1 week ban may have been a little fairer. The only doubt in my mind is why this happened so early in the game the ruling says there was no aggravating circumstances but why would he just for no reason take a swing at his opponent, was something untoward done or said that provoked that? Surely O’Brien is too much of a professional for it to have been pay back time for what Pape did to Heaslip so can’t see that as being a reason he did it.
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  5

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 10:30 pm

  @ MacroPolo:
  Don’t know how long a break the Irish players will be given off before having to play for their Provinces but this could have repercussions beyond the World Cup as if Ireland don’t win against Argentina then O’Brien would be free to play for Leinster on Friday 23rd October. Am sure their plan was always to give their players a bit of a break after the World Cup but this way O’Brien gets an enforced week of rest. Of course if Ireland win then he will be free to play in the semi-final. Was thinking about the PRO12 slant and then decided to have a look at the fixtures- Leinster are at home v Glasgow on the 23rd, we could do without having to face them away from home with O’Brien in their ranks.
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  6

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 10:32 pm

  Jonny Gray and Ross Ford both get a 3 week ban! What I expected for Gray but outrageous for Ford
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  7

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 10:33 pm

  Marcelo Bosch got 1 week ban.
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  8

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 10:37 pm

  From rugbworldcup:
  Marcelo Bosch (Argentina) has been suspended for one week for a dangerous tackle contrary to Law 10.4(e).

  Following a review of all camera angles, Bosch was cited by independent Citing Commissioner Peter Larter (England) under Law 10.4(e) for a dangerous tackle in the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool C match against Namibia at Leicester City Stadium on 11 October.

  Bosch admitted committing an act of foul play.

  Having conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all camera angles and additional evidence, including from the player and submissions from his legal representative, Chris Smith of Lewis Silkin, the Judicial Officer Jean-Noel Couraud (France) upheld the citing on the basis that the player had committed an act of foul play contrary to Law 10.4(e).

  With respect to the sanction, the Judicial Officer deemed the act of foul play merited a low-end entry point of two weeks. However, taking into account mitigating factors including his conduct prior to and at the hearing, his remorse, good character and clean disciplinary record, the Judicial Officer reduced the suspension to a period of one week.

  The suspension takes effect immediately and will run up to and include 18 October, 2015. He is free to resume playing on 19 October, 2015. Bosch will therefore miss Argentina’s quarter-final against Ireland.

  The player has 48 hours in which to appeal from receipt of the written decision.
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  9

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 10:38 pm

  from rugbworldcup:
  Ross Ford and Jonny Gray will miss Scotland’s quarter-final with Australia after each being suspended for three weeks for a dangerous tackle.

  Ross Ford and Jonny Gray (Scotland) have each been suspended for three weeks for dangerous tackles contrary to Law 10.4(j).

  Following a review of broadcast footage, Ross Ford and Jonny Gray were both cited by independent Citing Commissioner Scott Nowland (Australia) under Law 10.4(j) during the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool B match against Samoa at St James’ Park on 10 October.

  Both players denied committing an act of foul play.

  Having conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all broadcast angles and additional evidence, including from the players and submissions from their representative, the independent Judicial Officer Christopher Quinlan QC (England) was satisfied that each player committed an act of foul play contrary to law 10.4(j) and so upheld the citing.

  In the IRB (now World Rugby) Memorandum on “Dangerous tackles” dated 8 June, 2009 the Referees Manager and Judicial Panel Chairman highlighted that “tackles involving a player being lifted off the ground and tipped horizontally and were then either forced or dropped to the ground… must be dealt with severely by match officials and all those involved in the disciplinary process.”

  With respect to the sanction, the Judicial Officer deemed the act of foul play merited a low-end entry point, namely four weeks. The Judicial Officer added one week for aggravation due to the need to deter this type of dangerous foul play. However, taking into account mitigating factors including the players’ conduct prior to and at the hearing, their expressions of regret, exemplary characters and excellent disciplinary records, the Judicial Officer reduced the suspension to a period of three weeks in respect of each player.

  In the context of Rugby World Cup, three weeks equates to three matches and therefore neither player will be available to play for the remainder of Rugby World Cup 2015. Any remaining sanction not applied in the tournament context will revert to weeks for the players’ respective club fixtures.

  The players have 48 hours in which to appeal from receipt of the written decision.
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  10

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 10:39 pm

  from rugbyworldcup:
  Ireland flanker Seán O’Brien will miss their quarter-final with Argentina after being suspended for one week for striking.

  Seán O’Brien (Ireland) has been suspended for one week for striking contrary to Law 10.4(a).

  Following a review of available camera angles, O’Brien was cited by independent Citing Commissioner Dougie Hunter (Scotland) under Law 10.4(a) for striking with the hand, arm or fist during the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool D match against France at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on 11 October.

  O’Brien admitted committing an act of foul play and therefore the independent Judicial Officer Terry Willis (Australia) upheld the citing on the basis that the player had committed an act of foul play contrary to Law 10.4(a).

  Willis conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all camera angles and additional evidence from the player and submissions from his legal representative.

  With respect to the sanction, the Judicial Officer deemed the act of foul play merited a low-end entry point of two weeks. The Judicial Officer considered that there were no aggravating factors. The Judicial Officer took into account compelling mitigating factors including O’Brien’s conduct prior to and at the hearing, his remorse, good character and clean disciplinary record, and reduced the suspension to a period of one week.

  In the context of the Rugby World Cup tournament a week equates to one match. The suspension takes effect immediately, therefore O’Brien is suspended for Ireland’s quarter-final match against Argentina on Sunday, 18 October, 2015. He is free to resume playing on 19 October, 2015.

  The player has 48 hours in which to appeal from receipt of the written decision.
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  11

  grootblousmile on 13 October 2015 at 10:47 pm

  9 @ Bullscot:
  Whether Ross Ford & Jonny Gray each get a week or 5 weeks suspension, makes no difference really, in Rugby World Cup terms.

  Scotland won’t progress past the weekend, the Wallabies will prevail.

  Sounds harsh, I know, but that is the reality.
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  12

  Bullscot on 13 October 2015 at 11:34 pm

  grootblousmile wrote:

  9 @ Bullscot:
  Whether Ross Ford & Jonny Gray each get a week or 5 weeks suspension, makes no difference really, in Rugby World Cup terms.
  Scotland won’t progress past the weekend, the Wallabies will prevail.
  Sounds harsh, I know, but that is the reality.

  So this is ok? Does this mean the committees have made the length of the bans depend on whether they think the teams will get to the next stage of the World Cup or not?
  The sentences carry on into domestic competitions so it means that the players Ford and Ross will miss the rest of the World Cup and/or some games for their clubs whereas O’Brien whose club plays in the same competition as Ford and Ross (PRO12) will either be available for PRO12 straight away if Ireland lose or get another shot at World Cup game.

  For me it is not right either way but if World Rugby are really serious about reducing foul play and player safety then surely they would send a stronger message by being harder on the teams that are more likely to progress further in the Cup.

  Will try and watch the Ford and Gray incidents again to see if I need to change my mind but from the time I saw the short video clip online I thought Gray was guilty and deserved the citing but Ford was not. So on record have no problem with Gray’s sentence but Ford’s one and also question why Bosch who also did a ‘tip tackle’ got 1 week whereas Gray and the Tongan Paulo Ngaumo got 3 each, do you think it is to do with admitting guilt or not, and if so is it right that you get two thirds of a sentence knocked off if you do.

  Don’t have the time but it would be interesting to see an article with all the ‘incidents’ up with video clips of them and the subsequent sentences in one place. That could debate going about the rights and wrongs of the decisions made at this World Cup.
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  13

  nortie on 14 October 2015 at 12:23 am

  @ Bullscot:
  Farcical disciplinary inconsistencies tarnish a brilliant World Cup

  Much has been brilliant about this World Cup. The rise of the minnows, in particular Japan – who arguably no longer fit into that category – promises an exciting future, while proper ding-dong battles between heavyweights – New Zealand vs Argentina, England vs Wales, Wales vs Australia, Ireland vs France – have kept the group stage interesting to the last.

  But the farcical nature of disciplinary proceedings both on and off the pitch have been a real blight on the World Cup so far – and what is most baffling, is that they needn’t be. Surely with clear communication from World Rugby, it cannot be too difficult to educate all judges and TMOs as to what is right and what is wrong.

  The decision that has caused the most outrage so far has been Alesana Tuilagi’s initial five week ban for leading with a knee when running into a Japanese tackler. Rightly, this sparked mass outrage on social media, and the ban was quickly reduced to two weeks.

  But even two weeks for what boils down to a powerful Tuilagi carry (what his family has made a name for) does not stack up when compared with other bans this tournament. David Pocock used his knee in a far less necessary way against Wales, and yet he received nothing more than a ‘citing commissioner’s warning’.

  And even more bafflingly, the week previously Michael Hooper had received just a one week ban for charging recklessly and hugely dangerously into a ruck and clearing out Mike Brown with his shoulder.

  This is one of the most dangerous parts of the game at the moment, in my opinion, and we cannot be far away from a very serious injury occurring from an overzealous and illegal clean-out. Simply put, one week is a criminally short ban for such an act.

  Where is the consistency? That is the most frustrating thing. If there were a concerted effort to cut down on ‘dangerous play with the knee’ then you could just about understand it, but it is the way it has seemingly been one rule for one thing and a completely different one for another that grates the most.

  The use of the TMO during games has also been madly frustrating, and not just because of the way it has rendered most games stop-start slogs (as one of the commentators pointed out last weekend, he presided over a 68 minute half the other week).

  Why is it that the TMO can stop a game (with this new, madly annoying ‘check, check’ call) to come back for a marginal high tackle or forward pass, and yet he missed possibly the most blatant act of the tournament so far: Sean O’Brien’s swinging arm punch on Pascal Papé.

  Now, O’Brien may well have been provoked by an impromptu prostate exam, but that does not excuse his reaction. And there is really no excuse for the TMO to have missed it, either. O’Brien will rightly be banned, but that does not help France, who had to endure another 78 minutes of O’Brien at his best.

  We all want to see the best players competing at the World Cup, and the knockout stages will be much poorer for O’Brien’s absence. There have been many that have crowed about World Rugby being biased against the smaller nations, but frankly if O’Brien is not handed a hefty ban, then they may have a point, given the leniency shown so far to the likes of Pocock, Hooper and Wood.

  O’Brien must be banned or all faith in the system will be lost.

  Continuing the disciplinary theme, there’s been a bit of noise on social media in the past 24 hours about the nationality of the citing commissioner that picked out an alleged dangerous tackle committed by Jonny Gray and Ross Ford in Scotland’s game against Samoa – he’s Australian.

  Scotland, of course, play Australia in the quarter-final this weekend. Now, I’m sure Scott Nowland is a professional guy who doesn’t let nationality get in the way of what he does, but why is an Australian commissioner the one reviewing that game? Surely it just opens World Rugby up for accusations of bias?

  I appreciate the pool of commissioners and judiciaries probably isn’t that big, but I’m sure they could have found someone from a country that Scotland weren’t playing in the quarter-finals a week later. It just makes them look silly.

  http://www.therugbyblog.com/farcical-disciplinary-inconsistencies-tarnish-a-brilliant-world-cup
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  14

  MacroPolo on 14 October 2015 at 6:41 am

  grootblousmile wrote:

  9 @ Bullscot:
  Whether Ross Ford & Jonny Gray each get a week or 5 weeks suspension, makes no difference really, in Rugby World Cup terms.

  Scotland won’t progress past the weekend, the Wallabies will prevail.

  Sounds harsh, I know, but that is the reality.

  Are you bloody kidding me?
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  15

  Bullscot on 14 October 2015 at 9:05 am

  @ Bullscot:
  #12 referred to Ross and Ford a few times should have been Gray and Ford.
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  16

  Bullscot on 14 October 2015 at 9:06 am

  @ nortie:
  A good perspective on things thanks
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  17

  grootblousmile on 14 October 2015 at 11:22 am

  14 @ MacroPolo:
  No, I’m not kidding.. that is what is going to happen!

  Should we kid ourselves about Scotland’s further progress, when they have almost no chance against the Wobblies in the quarter?

  I’m not saying Suspensions should be inconsistant, nor am I saying that the suspensions are fair or reasonable.

  I am basically saying that I think that the Ireland suspensions should have a bigger bearing on the rest of the Rugby World Cup, as I think Argentina will not beat Ireland and therefore I am glad that Ireland won’t be affected by suspensions in a semi or thereafter… if they do not pick up further suspensions.
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  18

  Vrystaat on 14 October 2015 at 11:53 am

  @ grootblousmile:

  Let’s imagine a situation where a Bok player was cited in one of the early pool games, after the loss against Japan. By your logic, a citing commissioner could give that player a very harsh sentence, and support it with the argument that South Africa did not stand a chance of progressing further than the quarter finals anyway, given that they had lost to Japan, and that it thus would not have a significant bearing on the outcome of the World Cup. (“Let’s not kid ourselves about South Africa’s further progress”, he could have said.) Would you think this was acceptable?
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  19

  grootblousmile on 14 October 2015 at 12:13 pm

  18 @ Vrystaat:
  Waar lees jy daai strooi afleiding wat jy nou kwytraak??

  Read Comment 17 again…

  I’m not saying the suspensions are fair or reasonable.

  I am just saying that I (me, myself & I) do not think Scotland would have progressed past the Quarters anyway… suspensions in mind or not.

  I am not saying the Citing Commissioner erred or did not err. I am not saying the Judicial Panel was too harsh or too soft. I am not saying a team’s possible progress further on should be taken into account in a suspension lenght dished out.

  I am therefore saying ONLY, that as far as Rugby World Cup 2015 is concerned for the Scotland National side, Scotland has only 1 more game to go (in my opinion, as it would take something extra-ordinary for Scotland to beat the Wallabies).. so therefore, as far as ONLY the Rugby World Cup is concerned… the lenght of the suspensions of Ford and Jonny Gray, IN MY OPINION, will be largely immaterial when we progress to the semis and the final from here.

  Don’t lay attributes to my comments that YOU perceive to be there.. and are’nt.

  Lees of verstaan jy nie lekker nie… of wat??
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  20

  Angostura on 14 October 2015 at 12:49 pm

  Even disregarding disciplinary tenets such as fairness, consistency & the fitting of the sanction to the severity of the transgression, and since expediency & pragmatism are ‘flavours’ du jour, let me say that O’Brien’s patently fortunate avoidance of an on-field card should have been treated as an aggravating circumstance (or conceptually more correctly, a circumstance nullifying mitigation) which of itself should’ve warranted a longer suspension than a mere 1 week.

  O’Brien gets away on-field with punching, and then in the infinitely less pressurised situation of a cool, calm, collected & deliberate disciplinary hearing he AGAIN gets away, but this time with a mere slap on the wrist.
  It sticks in the craw, mon … especially if you’re French, Scottish, Argentinian, Tongan, etc.
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  21

  MacroPolo on 14 October 2015 at 12:51 pm

  @ grootblousmile:
  Its a professional sport, how can you as a bystander say “oh well he had no chance anyway of playing the semis” when they miss two domestic games as well, that makes a big impact on them and their clubs as well.

  Being tough on the “lil” team is cowardly when the punishment is light for bigger teams just to have a better contest.
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  22

  Angostura on 14 October 2015 at 12:55 pm

  India 165/7
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  23

  grootblousmile on 14 October 2015 at 1:35 pm

  21 @ MacroPolo:
  I can say anything I want, Macro… as it is MY OPINION!
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  24

  Vrystaat on 14 October 2015 at 1:50 pm

  @ grootblousmile:

  > “I can say anything I want, Macro… as it is MY OPINION!”

  Well, in my opinion, you’d probably change your opinion quite fast if the case involved South African rather than Scottish players, and someone else – say, a Kiwi – expressed an opinion like “Let’s not kid ourselves about South Africa’s further progress” 🙂

  Of course, all this is just my opinion;-)
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  25

  grootblousmile on 14 October 2015 at 1:56 pm

  24 @ Vrystaat:
  Your OPINION would probably be wrong… but it remains YOUR opinion!

  

  I urge you to go see what I said on the sanctions of the 4 players in the new article where their suspensions are detailed… see comment No 1 there.
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  26

  Ben-die-Bul on 14 October 2015 at 4:04 pm

  Eish, na Saterdag kry FDP 3 weke ban omdat hy skeef na die ref gekyk het, en Kieran Read kry 1 week waarskuwing omdat hy ‘n Fransman ge-headbutt het… maar dit maak nie ‘n verskil nie, ons staan mossie ‘n kans nie? 😯
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  27

  BrumbiesBoy on 14 October 2015 at 7:08 pm

  Phew, I bet the Kiwis are glad that Wayne Barnes will be at Twickenham and not running the lines in Cardiff