Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'A deeply unpleasant experience': London Irish coach banned

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

London Irish have been dealt a blow with the suspension of midfielder Curtis Rona and assistant coach Brad Davis following a virtual independent disciplinary hearing following incidents arising from their Gallagher Premiership defeat last Saturday at Leicester. Ronan was red-carded while Davis was charged with “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the union for shouting numerous comments of disrespect to the match officials”.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rona accepted his dangerous tackling charge and was banned for three games – the March 18 Premiership Cup match versus Harlequins, versus Northampton in the Premiership on March 25 and the March 29 Premiership Cup game with Leicester.  

The Australian could have his ban scratched for that last game as he has applied for tackle school, the World Rugby coaching intervention programme. Panel chair Gareth Graham said: “The player accepted that he had made a dangerous tackle that passed the red card threshold. 

Video Spacer

Jamie Noon guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload

Video Spacer

Jamie Noon guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload

“The panel concluded that this was a reckless tackle, delivered with some force, direct to the head of the opposition player. Fortunately, there was no injury. The panel accepted that in the circumstances, the mandatory minimum entry-point of six weeks (for offences where there is contact with the head/neck area) was appropriate.

“A reduction by way of mitigation was given on account of the acceptance of the charge, the lack of any previous offending, and the remorse and conduct demonstrated by the player. The player will miss the next three matches for the club, subject to the player’s application to World Rugby for a week of his suspension to be replaced with the successful completion of the coaching intervention programme.”

Davis, meanwhile, found himself in trouble for “shouting numerous comments of disrespect to the match officials”, a charge he accepted and he will be suspended from all matchday activities for the two Irish games versus Harlequins and Northampton. Graham said: “In light of the acceptance of the charge, and having heard evidence from the match referee Karl Dickson, the panel found the matter proven. 

“The panel concluded that Davis, while standing near the edge of the pitch at the end of the match, made derogatory comments about Dickson as the referee walked past him. The comments were made within Dickson’s earshot, were prompted by his presence, and were directed towards him.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The panel accepted that the offence was to be dealt with as one arising from disrespecting a match official. The panel accepted that this was a deeply unpleasant experience for the referee and took the view that as a case of disrespect it should be placed within the mid-range entry point given the nature of the words used, the potential impact on the referee and his standing in the rugby community, along with the importance of maintaining the core values of the game.

“A reduction by way of mitigation was given on account of the acceptance of the charge, the obvious remorse for the comment, the commendable way in which Davis had engaged with the panel, the lack of any previous offending, and the candid apology delivered to Dickson during the hearing.

“The result was that the panel imposed a two-match ban from all match day coaching duties (meaning he can only attend as a spectator). In addition, Davis is required to deliver a presentation to the London Irish U16-18 academy on the values of the game.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

f
fl 1 hour ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

"Right, so even if they were the 4 worst teams in Champions Cup, you'd still have them back by default?"

I think (i) this would literally never happen, (ii) it technically couldn't quite happen, given at least 1 team would qualify via the challenge cup, so if the actual worst team in the CC qualified it would have to be because they did really well after being knocked down to the challenge cup.

But the 13th-15th teams could qualify and to be fair I didn't think about this as a possibility. I don't think a team should be able to qualify via the Champions Cup if they finish last in their group.


Overall though I like my idea best because my thinking is, each league should get a few qualification spots, and then the rest of the spots should go to the next best teams who have proven an ability to be competitive in the champions cup. The elite French clubs generally make up the bulk of the semi-final spots, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that the 5th-8th best French clubs would be competitive in a slimmed down champions cup. The CC is always going to be really great competition from the semis onwards, but the issue is that there are some pretty poor showings in the earlier rounds. Reducing the number of teams would help a little bit, but we could improve things further by (i) ensuring that the on-paper "worst" teams in the competition have a track record of performing well in the CC, and (ii) by incentivising teams to prioritise the competition. Teams that have a chance to win the whole thing will always be incentivised to do that, but my system would incentivise teams with no chance of making the final to at least try to win a few group stage matches.


"I'm afraid to say"

Its christmas time; there's no need to be afraid!

119 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ ‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’ ‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’
Search