Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

Sharks centre Esterhuizen hit with six-week ban

Sharks centre Andre Esterhuizen

Sharks centre Andre Esterhuizen has been banned for six weeks for a dangerous tackle on Rebels wing Sefa Naivalu at Kings Park on Saturday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Esterhuizen was sent off in the first half of a drab 9-9 Super Rugby draw in Durban after lifting Naivalu off his feet and ploughing him head first into the deck.

The 23-year-old was given a four-week suspension for a tip tackle on Stormers back-row Michael Rhodes two years ago and now faces another lengthy absence.

Judicial Committee chairman Michael Heron QC ruled: “Having conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all camera angles and additional evidence, including from the player and submissions from his legal representative, Thembelani Mayosi, the Judicial Committee accepted a guilty plea from the Player in respect of Law 10.4(j).

“With respect to sanction the Judicial Committee deemed the act of foul merited a mid-range entry point of 10 weeks. It was deemed to be reckless in nature and placed the opposing player in an extremely dangerous position.

“In regards to aggravating factors, it was noted that the player was suspended for a similar offence in 2015 and subsequently one week was added to the suspension period.

“However, taking into account mitigating factors including the player’s excellent conduct throughout the judicial process, his on-field apology to the opposing player, his remorse and his early guilty plea, the Foul Play Review Committee reduced the suspension to 6 weeks.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch every game of Super Rugby streaming live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!

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 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

307 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner
Search