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All Blacks prop Ethan de Groot learns fate after red card
By Finn Morton
Prop Ethan de Groot will miss the All Blacks’ decisive Rugby World Cup clash with Italy later this month after receiving a multi-game ban for a high tackle.
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De Groot will miss Tests against the Azzurri and Uruguay to round out pool play, but will be able to available for a potential quarter-final if he completes the Coaching Intervention Programme.
Playing against Namibia in Toulouse last week, de Groot was shown a yellow card in the 72nd minute following a high shot on backrower Adriaan Booysen. The incident was upgraded to a red following an off-field review.
The All Blacks got their Rugby World Cup campaign back on track with a comfortable 71-3 win at Stade de Toulouse, but the red card to de Groot was concerning.
It was later confirmed that de Groot would appear in front of an independent Disciplinary Committee which was chaired by Brenda Heather-Latu (Samoa) and joined by former players John Langford (Australia) and Jamie Corsi (Wales).
De Groot told the Committee that he’d “committed an act of foul play” according to a World Rugby statement, “but maintained that the red card threshold had not been met.”
The independent Committee decided that the “degree of danger was high” and that de Groot had “put himself in a position to complete a legal tackle.”
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It was determined that de Groot hadn’t made a genuine attempt to wrap his arms, so no mitigation could be applied to downgrade the incident from a red card.
De Groot has the right to appeal this decision within 48 hours of the verdict.
well at least he will get to watch his tackle on tv for a couple of weeks and learn not what to do
Might be a blessing in disguise. De Groot was shockingly bad against France.
Interesting to see the Fijians getting away with lots of stuff up around the head, being referred to by the commentary as 'seatbelt tackles'. Match officials will be asked to police that a lot harder by future opposition.
Jordan Petaia was repeatedly hit around the head and the referees and bunker letting it go. It looks like Ethan's getting banned for the Namibians shoulder dislocation. The ruling makes no sense when compared to the head smashing contact by Curry resulting in the same penalty.
Anyone defending this tackle has to get with the times. He didn't bend at the waist, tucked his arm in and because he was high made direct contact to the end. People like to blame the ball carrier for ducking, but cmon, do you watch rugby? Half the time ball carriers aren't even trying to make the gainline and are basically going straight to deck to protect the ball, so any tackler should expect this, and even if they don't, since when was a shoulder check legal anyway?
another appallingly bad and inconsistent decision from the judiciary. Likely it should never have gone beyond yellow. But as always there are no favours for SH teams like there always are for those from the NH
So him disputing his part in the force (degree of danger) didn’t land him an extra week?
I see that a number of ABs went to visit the injured Namibian player in hospital. That's the true spirit of the game and I take my hat off to them. Well done.
Yeah it's baffling that no mention was made of how the Namibian player lowered his head into De Groot's tackle.
So how on earth did the French guy get away with it. That looked worse to me. The Namibian lowered his head into an unsafe position I thought also.