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Heineken Cup Final 2022/23: Leinster Rugby v Stade Rochelais


Three charges, though I doubt anything comes of it - they're comparing it someone getting physical with the refs which is very much not comparable to what happens


If something DOES come of it, I wonder
a) if it's a week's or a games ban (can't remember how epcr do it, Prem bans are for named games)
b) wonder if Leinster/Ireland can fiddle it a bit and say he's fit earlier than he is, i.e. he gets a 3 week ban, they declare him fit for the warmups when he actually isn't so he's free to play in the world cup
 

Three charges, though I doubt anything comes of it - they're comparing it someone getting physical with the refs which is very much not comparable to what happens


If something DOES come of it, I wonder
a) if it's a week's or a games ban (can't remember how epcr do it, Prem bans are for named games)
b) wonder if Leinster/Ireland can fiddle it a bit and say he's fit earlier than he is, i.e. he gets a 3 week ban, they declare him fit for the warmups when he actually isn't so he's free to play in the world cup
Highlights complete inconsistency in punishments again by rugby.

Hartley gets 11 weeks for swearing at a ref mid game and Pau coach gets 10 weeks for grabbing a ref. Surely grabbing is far worse than swearing. Sexton should not have been anywhere near the officials during the match and it depends also on what he said and if it can be proven. However, seems like EPCR precedent is more lenient than others.

As for length of ban, surely it has to be weeks when he can play because otherwise it just makes a mockery of the system. "Yeah I'll take my ban during the summer while I'm sitting on a beach relaxing, sure."
 

Three charges, though I doubt anything comes of it - they're comparing it someone getting physical with the refs which is very much not comparable to what happens


If something DOES come of it, I wonder
a) if it's a week's or a games ban (can't remember how epcr do it, Prem bans are for named games)
b) wonder if Leinster/Ireland can fiddle it a bit and say he's fit earlier than he is, i.e. he gets a 3 week ban, they declare him fit for the warmups when he actually isn't so he's free to play in the world cup
Saw something that warmups don't count as fully official matches.

Also saw somewhere the fact the leagues are all pushed back doesn't help his case either in terms of windows.

Don't think it will hamper his RWC though and schedule works in our favour as our 2 big pool games are last 2 in pool with 2 week gap.
 

Three charges, though I doubt anything comes of it - they're comparing it someone getting physical with the refs which is very much not comparable to what happens


If something DOES come of it, I wonder
a) if it's a week's or a games ban (can't remember how epcr do it, Prem bans are for named games)
b) wonder if Leinster/Ireland can fiddle it a bit and say he's fit earlier than he is, i.e. he gets a 3 week ban, they declare him fit for the warmups when he actually isn't so he's free to play in the world cup

Don't think his fitness status matters? It's not unheard of for players to get injured the same game they get a ban for and I dont think it matters if they'd have been injured for the games they miss anyway?
 
Don't think his fitness status matters? It's not unheard of for players to get injured the same game they get a ban for and I dont think it matters if they'd have been injured for the games they miss anyway?
Correct injury status will not be factored in.
Many incidents where a player was reckless and got few weeks ban for dangerous tackle buit would have missed it anyways on concussion grounds.
 
Don't think his fitness status matters? It's not unheard of for players to get injured the same game they get a ban for and I dont think it matters if they'd have been injured for the games they miss anyway?
RFU rules definitely mention that only meaningful games where a player is 'scheduled to play' and it's on the player to prove they would have been involved in the match.

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.englandrugby.com/dxdam/ef/ef43f84b-9ab1-4764-81c1-9546e88ffa26/Regulation%2019.pdf

This is from the EPCR website as well:

f) A suspension is a blanket ban from playing rugby union anywhere in the world. Players are suspended on the basis that a one-week period of suspension would ordinarily result in a player missing one match. Suspensions take into account periods of inactivity (such as the closed season), periods when a player is injured or otherwise not to fit to play, and when a player is not available or not expected to play. Suspensions should also taken into account any out-of-season matches which are not considered to be meaningful, or which are not close enough to the season to be a determining factor in a player's future selection.

Not sure how the IRFU would apply it, but from my reading injuries shouldn't count as serving your ban.
 
WR regulations are almost identical to RFU and mention meaningful matches and being scheduled to play.

It's all hypothetical at the moment, but if players have been allowed to serve bans whilst injured in the past then it's definitely dodgy and inconsistent.
 
Ramos getting 5 weeks for gouging and headbutting in the same 15mins of rugby will always be insane to me
On this, is there not an appeal's system for clubs/unions to take it to WR. If a French player was given a lenient sentence by a French appointed committee for example.
 
And from the IRFU

C7. For the purposes of imposing a suspension, Disciplinary Committees and Judicial Officers shall take into account weeks in which there is a Match(es) which the Player would otherwise have been scheduled to play in the Match, the burden resting with the Player to prove that he was scheduled to play. Where the Player was scheduled to play in more than one Match in a week (for example, a mid-week fixture) this week still only counts as one week of the suspension save in certain situations normally associated with the professional game. Disciplinary Committees and Judicial Officers shall take into account that a one-week period of suspension shall ordinarily result in a player missing one match. In determining the length of the suspension, consideration shall be given to the playing consequences of such a suspension and shall exclude: a) Any close season periods of inactivity or periods when the player is not fit, available or expected to play.
 
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