Appeal
Jonny Gray
Ross Ford
Ross Ford and Jonny Gray (Scotland) are free to resume playing with immediate effect after successfully appealing against their 3-week suspension for acts of foul play contrary to Law 10.4(j) (dangerous tackles).
The appeal took place today at the London offices of the official law firm for Rugby World Cup 2015 Clifford Chance and was heard by an Appeal Committee, chaired by the Honourable Justice Lex Mpati (South Africa), sitting with Justice Graeme Mew (Canada) and Robbie Deans (New Zealand).
Having conducted a detailed review of all the evidence, including new submissions from the players and their representatives, along with all available camera angles, the Appeal Committee dismissed the finding that the players had committed an act of foul play as the player had not been dropped or driven and therefore the tackle was not dangerous.
Michael Hooper
A SANZAR Appeals Committee, chaired by Jannie Lubbe SC (South Africa) and comprising Terry Willis (Australia) and Mike Heron QC (New Zealand) unanimously dismissed both appeals brought by SANZAR and the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) on behalf of Michael Hooper.
The Committee dismissed the ARU appeal on behalf of Michael Hooper on the basis that the appellant was unable to show that the Judicial Officer erred in law in finding that Hooper’s striking of Nicolas Sanchez from Argentina was a breach of Law 10.4 (a).
The Committee also dismissed the appeal brought by SANZAR that the Judicial Officer’s sanction of 1 week was unduly lenient. The Committee found the Judicial Officer was correct in the exercise of his discretion that the offending was low-end.
As such, the player’s suspension from all forms of the game for 1 week was confirmed.
Michael Hooper
An appeal has been lodged against the outcome of a judicial hearing held on Wednesday 29 July and Thursday 30 July, which found Michael Hooper of Australia’s Wallabies guilty of contravening Law 10.4 (a) and issued a sanction of a 1 week suspension.
Under the SANZAR Judicial Rules, all formal judicial hearings are reviewed by an independent Appeals Review Officer. The review officer, the Honourable Graeme Mew (Canada), has examined the Hooper case and in his determination, referred it to a SANZAR Appeals Committee to review the sanction handed down by Judicial Officer Nigel Hampton QC.
A SANZAR Appeals Committee, chaired by Jannie Lubbe SC, with Terry Willis and Mike Heron QC as members, will hear the appeal via videoconference on Sunday 2 August 2015 at 17:00 AEST (19:00 NZ Time, 09:00 SA Time, 07:00 GMT, 04:00 ARG Time).
Henry Speight
A SANZAR Appeals Committee, chaired by Nigel Hampton QC (New Zealand) and comprising Lex Mpati (South Africa) and Terry Willis (Australia) unanimously dismissed an appeal brought by the Brumbies against the decision that found Henry Speight had contravened Law 10.4 (j) – Lifting Tackle.
The Committee dismissed the appeal on the basis that the appellant was unable to show that the Judicial Officer’s central factual findings, that the tackle involved both a lifting and driving, were in error.
The Committee also unanimously dismissed the appeal brought against the 5-week (4-match) suspension imposed on Speight, finding that the Judicial Officer had not erred in principle and that the sanction imposed was not manifestly excessive.
As such, the player remains suspended from all forms of the game for 5 weeks up to and including Saturday 25 July 2015.
Henry Speight
The Brumbies will appeal Wallabies wing Henry Speight’s 5-week suspension after the Aussie side felt the player was treated harshly compared to other lifting tackles this season.
Speight was found guilty of contravening Law 10.4 (j): Lifting Tackle, on Wednesday and will be out of action up until 25 July, which translates into 4 matches.
His tackle on DHL Stormers’ centre Juan de Jongh in the 74th minute of the qualifier last Saturday, resulted in the Springbok landing on his head.
Speight will be out for the remainder of the Super Rugby season and will also miss the Wallabies 1st 2 Tests of The Rugby Championship against South Africa and Argentina.
The Brumbies will appeal the suspension on 2 grounds – the severity of the punishment and the incident’s classification as a lifting tackle.
Will Skelton
Tolu Latu
The Waratahs have formally appealed against the bans slapped on 2 of their players and the new hearing will take place on Thursday.
The judicial hearing held on Monday 25 May found Will Skelton and Silatolu (Tolu) Latu guilty of contravening Law 10.4 (j): Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that 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.
Skelton was given 2 weeks and Latu handed 4, for spear tackling Crusaders’ lock Sam Whitelock.
Francois Steyn
SANZAR, the controlling body for Southern Hemisphere rugby, moved swiftly to defuse the storm that erupted in the wake of Springbok Francois Steyn’s 5-week ban.
A SANZAR appeals committee – chaired by Terry Willis (Australia), who was assisted by Nigel Hampton (New Zealand) and Robert Stelzner (South Africa) – slapped the ban on the Sharks utility back after a hearing earlier this week.
Steyn, who was Red-Carded for his lifting tackle on Aaron Cruden in the Sharks’ 12 / 11 win over the Chiefs on 21 March, was cleared by South African judicial officer Jannie Lubbe at the original hearing on 23 Match. He also expunged Steyn’s Red Card.
However, SANZAR felt strongly about the message sent out by the result of the original hearing and appealed.
That hearing, which took place on Tuesday this week, found Steyn guilty and suspended him up to, and including 3 May.
In reaction to the fall-out to their appeal and subsequent ban of Steyn, SANZAR said they felt Lubbe made a ‘clear error of fact and law’.
Francois Steyn
The SANZAR Appeal against the Ruling of the Judicial Officer in the Francois Steyn case, was heard on Tuesday and the Appeals Committee, chaired by Terry Willis (Australia) and comprising Nigel Hampton QC (New Zealand) and Robert Stelzner SC (South Africa), has ruled in favour of SANZAR, setting aside the verdict of the judicial hearing which cleared Francois Steyn of a lifting tackle and which expunged the Red Card.
The Appeals Committee unanimously upheld the appeal brought by SANZAR and found that Steyn breached Law 10.4 (j) and that the referee was correct to Red Card the player during the match between the Cell C Sharks and the Chiefs played at Growthpoint Kings Park in Durban on Saturday 21 March 2015.
The Committee determined that the relevant sanction was 4 matches. After taking into consideration the Sharks’ bye in Round 11, Steyn was suspended from all forms of the game up to and including 3 May 2015.
Francois Steyn
The hearing date for SANZAR’s appeal against the decision to rescind Frans Steyn’s Red Card has been postponed until next week.
The Sharks centre was sent off after performing a tip-tackle on Chiefs flyhalf Aaron Cruden in their Super Rugby clash in Durban last Saturday.
Steyn was cited following the game, but was then found not guilty at a subsequent hearing, with the Red Card expunged from his record.
However, SANZAR felt justice was not served and appealed the decision on Wednesday.
The initial date for the appeal was set for Friday, but has now been extended until next Tuesday.
Francois Steyn
SANZAR has lodged an appeal against the outcome of a judicial hearing held on Monday 23 March that found Francois Steyn of the Sharks not guilty of contravening Law 10.4 (j).
A SANZAR Appeals Committee, chaired by Terry Willis, with Nigel Hampton QC and Robert Stelzner SC as members, will hear the appeal via videoconference on Friday 27 March 2015 at 08:00 SA Time (17:00 AEDT, 19:00 NZ Time).
Finn Russell
Finn Russell, the Scotland outside half, appeared today before an independent Six Nations Disciplinary Committee at Heathrow, having been cited under Law 10.4 (e) and (i) for an alleged dangerous tackle of an opponent in the air in the 31st minute of the RBS 6 Nations match between Scotland and Wales on Sunday 15 February 2015.
The Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Mike Hamlin (England) along with Jean-Philippe Lachaume (France) and Pat Barriscale (Ireland), having heard from the player and his representative and viewed various TV angles of the incident, determined that Finn Russell had committed an act of foul play which merited a Red Card rather than the on-field Yellow Card given by the Match Officials.
Griquas lock Rory Arnold won his appeal against a ban for biting and has been cleared to play.
The Australian second row forward, on loan to Griquas for the Currie Cup competition from his Brisbane club, was on Monday found “not guilty” on a biting charge after.
Australian lock Rob Simmons had his ban for a dangerous tip-tackle during the Wallabies defeat by France this month cut from eight weeks to five weeks, following an International Rugby Board appeal hearing in Bristol, south-west England.
The ARU will appeal Wallabies lock Rob Simmons’s eight-week suspension for a lifting tackle on French forward Yannick Nyanga in Paris two weeks ago.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has confirmed that it will appeal what it strongly believes to be an “unduly lenient sanction” handed down to New Zealand forward Adam Thomson for stamping or trampling on the head of an opponent.
Rugby World Cup winner Mike Tindall has effectively won his appeal to have his fine from the RFU reduced and to be reinstated to the England Elite player squad.
England (3) 16 / Scotland (9) 12 (Final Score)
England and Scotland did battle in Auckland at 09:30 SA Time (20:30 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Scotland gave England a hell of a go, just running out of puff in the end and Chris Ashton was England’s tool to punish the brave Scotts, with a late try, securing a narrow win.
History suggests Saturday’s clash between England and Scotland should be an epic battle between two old foes.
Argentina (3) 13 / Scotland (6) 12 (Final Score)
Argentina and Scotland did battle in Wellington at 09:30 SA Time (20:30 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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This was not a pretty, airy-fairie match, but hard and unrelenting rugby.
The Argentinians came back from being 12 / 6 down to score a marvelous try and a cool conversion, and then hanging on with everything they had to keep brave Scotland away.
Scotland (9) 15 / Georgia (3) 6 (Final Score)
Scotland did battle with Georgia in Invercargill at 09:30 SA Time (19:30 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & 4, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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A Tryless match!
Scotland were mostly in control of the match, but they were blunt on attack against a gutsy Georgian side who defended like trojans.
The Scottish and Georgian teams have been announced for their clash on Wednesday.
Scotland (18) 34 / Romania (11) 24 (Final Score)
Scotland and Romania did battle in Invercargill on 10 September 2011 at 03:00 SA Time (13:00 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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Romania gave Scotland a massive scare, with the scores in favour of Romania by 3 points, with 6 minutes to go. Scotland suddenly woke up and scored 2 quick tries via Simon Danielli.
The Scotland Rugby World Cup squad with children from their Scottish clubs or schools. Head coach Andy Robinson has today named the 30-man Scotland squad for the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand.
Baby Bokkies (21) 33 / Scotties (0) 0 (Final Score)
South Africa took on Scotland in their first clash of 2011 in the Junior World Championships at the Stadio del Plebiscito, Padova, Italy at 20:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
There was always only going to be one winner, but errors hampered the Baby Bokkies and many chances went a-begging. They still scored their 4 tries though and kept the sheet against them blemish free.
England (9) 22 / Scotland (9) 16 (Final score)
England edged closer to their first Six Nations title and grand slam for eight years when they beat Scotland 22-16 on Sunday but they were made to work hard for their fourth successive victory.
Scotland (9) 18/ Ireland (14) 21 (Final Score)
Ireland ran in three tries to set up a 21-18 victory over Scotland in their Six Nations clash at Murrayfield on Sunday.
The result left the Scots still without a point from three games. Ireland joined Wales and France on four points, two behind leaders England.
Scotland (3) 6 / Wales (16) 24 (Final Score)
Scotland hosted Wales at Murrayfield, Edinburgh at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SS1 on TV in SA.
Wales started well but the game fizzeled out a bit and eventually Wales deserved their win, ground out the hard way.
Round 2 of the Six Nations Championship will be played this weekend. Our Superbru Predictor of the Week EEE, leads the pack on 6.5 points. Get your predictions in before the cut off on Saturday 12 February, game starts at 16:30 SA time.
France (17) 34 / Scotland (7) 21 (Final Score)
France hosted Scotland at Stade de France, Paris at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
For a change a red hot French team pitched to play and they started like a house on fire but the brave Scotland side fought back all the way, till the end.
In the end there was just too much French fire power as reflected in the final score of 34 / 21.
The Six Nations season starts on Friday with the game between Wales and England in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Click on More for Previews.
Our 6 Nations Superbru
The Springboks were tactically pathetic and physically overwhelmed in what can only be described as an embarrassing performance.
Scotland (12) 21 / Springboks (9) 17 (Final Score)
Scotland hosted the Springboks at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh at 16:30 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
In a scrappy game a brave Scotland held out to beat the Springboks and shatter their Grand Slam hopes.
Worst Springbok performance in a very long time.
Scotland head coach Andy Robinson has made four changes in personnel to the starting line-up for Saturday’s Test against world champions South Africa at Murrayfield.
Seven of the Scotland players involved in the 49-3 mauling by New Zealand are in need of medical assessment ahead of Saturday’s Test against South Africa.