The Rugby World Cup appeal committee on Thursday reduced Springbok flanker Schalk Burger’s four-match suspension to two matches.
This was announced following an appeal hearing by the committee, comprising chairperson Justice Wyn Williams, Bruce Squire QC and Judge Guillermo Tragant, into the incident where Burger tackled a Samoan player in the air during the Boks’ opening match on Sunday.
The committee determined that the judicial officer had made an error in his first-instance decision in that he was wrong to find that the player was not at any time during the incident intending to win the ball.
”On the basis of the video evidence and the transcript of the initial hearing, the appeal committee decided the player was attempting to win the ball for a significant part of the time involved.
”However, the committee found that the player ultimately realised that he was not going to catch the ball and instinctively adjusted his approach to tackle the opposing player.
”The committee concluded that the tackle was a dangerous tackle but noted that that the arm of Burger was withdrawn following contact with the opposing player. The committee decided the offence should be categorised as a lower-level entry offence rather than a mid-range offence and the suspension was reduced to two matches,” the statement says.
Burger will therefore miss Friday’s match against England as well as next Saturday’s match against Tonga.
Burger was initially banned for four matches at a disciplinary hearing that ran into the early hours of Wednesday morning after he was found guilty of a dangerous tackle on Samoa scrumhalf Junior Polu in South Africa’s 59-7 victory.
Terry Willis, the judicial officer at the initial hearing, decided that Burger ”executed a reckless and sloppy tackle that was high and dangerous”, according to the tournament’s website.
On Wednesday, All Black loose forward Jerry Collins said he believes the citing system at the World Cup is a lottery which makes it difficult for contact players to avoid punishment.
”You never know who is going to be sitting up in the box being the citing commissioner,” Collins told reporters.
”It’s a lottery, really, whether you are going to get a referee who’s pedantic or a referee who is going to enjoy the weather and the free-flowing rugby and let it go.”
Asked if the game was in danger of losing some of its aggression, Collins replied: ”I hope not because then I’ll stop playing it.
”You have the IRB [International Rugby Board] and in their defence they’ve got a product that they’re trying to put out to the global world and it is probably one of the measures that they’ve taken to keep the TV audience.
Collins said the All Blacks were aware of the tough stance taken on dangerous tackling but added that many of the challenges were accidental.
”It’s a long way to come for your tournament to end early,” he said. ”But what can you do? Like Schalk, you go in low and then clip him high. In that game you could have cited 10 people. It is just the luck of the draw who gets picked up and who doesn’t.
”It is like having someone looking over your shoulder. You have it in the back of your mind, but the game is brutal and these things happen.
”Sometimes you get cited for things you wouldn’t normally get cited for, it’s just luck really.” — Sapa, Reuters