RWC sanction 17 players during pool phase play
With the Rugby World Cup 2015 pool phase completed, 22 cases were heard by the fully independent disciplinary team, resulting in 17 sanctions for foul play and three appeal decisions, World Rugby confirmed on Saturday.
These decisions are entirely in line with the pre-tournament aims of ensuring consistent application of the disciplinary process and protecting the welfare of the world’s top players.
World Rugby’s number one priority is player welfare and this principle is at the heart of the rugby-specific sanctioning regime, set out in World Rugby Regulation 17 and reflected within the 2015 tournament disciplinary process.
The key aims of welfare and consistent application of the process were the subject of pre-tournament presentations to all Rugby World Cup 2015 participating teams and the media.
“Player welfare is of paramount importance and in line with rugby’s values of respect, discipline and integrity, we reiterated that zero-tolerance would apply to dangerous foul play and, in particular, the areas of dangerous challenges in the air, dangerous high tackles or neck rolls and striking or stamping,” said World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset.
“The application of the process, including citing review and hearings, has been applied in an expedited manner for the benefit of participating teams, by a highly-experienced team of Citing Commissioners and Judicial Officers who are applying World Rugby’s disciplinary regulations in a wholly consistent and fair manner.”
The experienced panel includes former international players and coaches (Peter Larter, Mike Rafter and Robbie Deans), experienced provincial players and referees and others who have a strong rugby background.
The Judicial Officers include current judges (from England, Canada and the President of the South African Court of Appeal), Queen’s Counsel and senior barristers who are credible, knowledgeable and all with a strong rugby background and selected on merit following a rigorous selection process.
Judicial appointments are neutral of the teams involved. Citing appointments are based upon neutrality relative to the match officials and the teams and this was achieved during the pool phase.
Passage neutrality will be applied for all the knock-out phase appointments. All incidents of foul play are considered within the citing period of 36 hours which also includes a window for any team referrals (12 hours).
During this period the entire match is reviewed by the Citing Commissioner and all incidents categorised against the red card threshold test. Incidents which do not reach this test may result in a Citing Commissioner Warning (there have been 10 CCWs issued in the tournament to date) or no further action.
While there have been commentary and assumptions made regarding a perceived lack of consistency in the outcomes, it is consistency in the application of the disciplinary process which is sought to be achieved. It is notable that while two incidents may appear similar in nature, eg, the same law is breached, the sanctions may differ due to the case facts, e.g. admission versus no admission of the act of foul play.
It is equally not appropriate to compare the sanction imposed in respect of different types of foul play as they are not comparable given the different sanction entry points that apply.
Therefore, it is important that the written decisions (available via rugbyworldcup.com within 24 hours of the hearing oral decision) are considered in detail as they set out precisely how each sanction is reached and the particular factual findings in each case – all of which are unique. - ANA