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Amanaki Mafi appears in court after incident with teammate


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Melbourne Rebels loose forward Amanaki Mafi has appeared in Dunedin District Court after he was charged for injuring with intent to injure, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

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The alleged attack – on Rebels teammate Lopeti Timani – happened in Dunedin and came after the Rebels lost 43-37 to the Highlanders on Saturday and were bounced from the playoffs.

Mafi entered no plea and was granted bail. He will reportedly return to Melbourne this week.

The terms of his bail mean he cannot associate with teammate Timani.

His case has been scheduled to return to court in August, but he won’t have to appear in person.

Rugby Australia and the Rebels confirmed in a statement Sunday night that Japanese international Mafi had been involved in an incident with Timani. It is understood no other players were involved.

New Zealand Police released a statement following the incident, and said the victim had received moderate injuries but did not need require hosptialisation.

Melbourne Rebels CEO Baden Stephenson expressed his disappointment in a statement Sunday night.

“I am bitterly disappointed that an incident has occurred at the end of a season where we have taken pride in our on and off field behaviour,” the statement read.

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“We will respect the process and won’t be making further comments until all investigations have taken place.”

Both Mafi and Timani are off contract after this season. Timani is set to head to France and join Top 14 side La Rochelle next season, while Japanese international Mafi has been linked with a move to the Sunwolves.

In other news:

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Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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