Bulls lock Wilhelm Steenkamp has been suspended for two weeks after he was found guilty of foul play.
sport24
A SANZAR judicial hearing on Tuesday found Steenkamp guilty of contravening Law 10.4 (a): Striking another player with his head, after he was cited following their 20-19 Super Rugby win over the Sharks in Pretoria at the weekend.
The hearing was held via video conference and heard by judicial officer Mike Heron.
In his finding, Heron ruled the following:
“Steenkamp made contact with the Sharks player (Butch James) with his head in an attempt to clear out the player from a collapsed maul.
“I found from the video footage that the player led with his head and contacted the Sharks player in between the shoulder and the head. From the video footage I found that Steenkamp intended to lead with his head and make contact with the Sharks player and that he was reckless as to whether he would commit an act of foul play.
“I was assisted in these finding by former professional player John Langford. I did not find that Steenkamp intended to injure the Sharks player nor did I find that his head struck the face of the Sharks player as alleged in the citing.
“I found that the action was in an intense and critical phase of play when the Sharks player was attempting to interfere with the Bulls possession. I was satisfied that the player gave evidence honestly and to the best of his recollection, and other than the findings made above I accepted his evidence,” concluded Heron.
Steenkamp has subsequently been suspended from all forms of rugby up to and including the July 20.
So, a reckless tackle gets you 4 weeks, reckless use of the head gets you 2 weeks.
Guess old Butch’s reputation preceeded him.
Fok… sorry… flok!
1 @ Scrumdown:
Well I definitely expected him to get a ban. He should also have been given a yellow card on Saturday, instead the Ref who was so terrible, was asking the tmo to see if the ball was knocked on. Butch was trying to tell him to go upstairs to look as he told him he had been head butted. Flip should have got a yellow card as well. Anyhow all gone and dusted. Jaftha was really terrible on Saturday. Don’t think he is up to Super Rugby level yet. I used to rate him for a long time and always thought he should ref in Super Rugby. Changed my mind on that after the shocker he had against the Sharks in PE and now this game again had a shocker.
I think Butch got 4 weeks because of reputation. Bakkies head butted Aplon clearing out a ruck and got 6 weeks or was it 8 weeks? I suppose he too had a reputation. I just thought a head butt gets you 3 weeks minimum.
2 @ Puma:
Truth be told there are far too many inconsistencies in refereeing, asistant referees decisions and TMO decisions in recent times.
When are the Rugby officials going to bring these gooks to book?
3 @ Scrumdown:
Exactly. Some refs should be dropped for a few weeks or longer if they make so many mistakes. If players can get banned for a few weeks so should refs if they mess up.
Something has to be done about the refs, as this year plenty were sub-standard in Super Rugby. Plenty games were messed up by refs getting it wrong.
Tmo’s should never get it wrong. They have it to look at over and over. They get it wrong they should just be dropped totally.
Dirty fukken Bulls.
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