Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

Exeter handed boost for Champions Cup clash after disciplinary hearing

Exeter Chiefs Glasgow Warriors/ PA

Exeter Chiefs will be able to pick No8 Greg Fisilau this Sunday for their trip to Bayonne in the Investec Champions Cup after an independent disciplinary committee determined that he did not warrant a red card for a tackle made on Glasgow Warriors’ Duncan Weir on Saturday.

ADVERTISEMENT

The 20-year-old was yellow carded in the opening ten minutes for the tackle and was subsequently cited, but a committee comprising Philippe Cavalieros (France), Chair, Stefan Terblanche (South Africa) and Jacques Boussuge (France) decided on Tuesday that a yellow card was sufficient.

An EPCR statement said: “The committee determined that Fisilau had committed an act of foul play, and that the match officials were not wrong in issuing him with a yellow card, however, it decided that his actions did not warrant a red card and the citing complaint was dismissed.”

Video Spacer

Henry Arundell talks England future when playing in France | RPTV

The 21-year-old Racing 92 flyer told The Big Jim Show what his reasons for playing in France are and what the future holds now that he is ineligible for England due to playing outside of the country.

Full interview

Video Spacer

Henry Arundell talks England future when playing in France | RPTV

The 21-year-old Racing 92 flyer told The Big Jim Show what his reasons for playing in France are and what the future holds now that he is ineligible for England due to playing outside of the country.

Full interview

Fisilau is free to play this weekend, therefore, against the Top 14 outfit as the Chiefs seek a point to ensure a home tie in the round of 16.

Scarlets and Wales centre Johnny Williams, meanwhile, has been suspended for six weeks for his red card against ASM Clermont Auvergne on Saturday. The 27-year-old was sent off by referee Eoghan Cross in the first half of their 38-17 loss following a head-on-head clash with Julien Hériteau.

Williams was originally suspended for 12 weeks, but the ban was halved.

An EPCR statement said: “The committee upheld the red card decision, finding that in carrying out the tackle in a dangerous and reckless manner, Williams had made contact with Hériteau’s head.

“Taking into account the injuries suffered by Hériteau, the committee then determined that the offending was at the top end of World Rugby’s sanctions and 12 weeks was selected as the appropriate entry point.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Due to his timely acceptance of the charge and his apology to Hériteau, the committee decided to reduce the sanction by the maximum of 50% before imposing a six-week suspension.”

Related

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

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING The appointment I would make to save Steve Borthwick – Andy Goode The appointment I would make to save Steve Borthwick – Andy Goode
Search