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Alfie Barbeary handed ban after Champions Cup red card
Bath No8 Alfie Barbeary has been banned for three weeks following his red card against Racing 92 in the Investec Champions Cup on Sunday.
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The 23-year-old was shown two yellow cards by referee Andrea Picardi in Bath’s 29-25 win at the Rec, resulting in a red card. The cards came in the opening and closing ten minutes of the match, and both teetered on being red card offences.
The commentary team were stunned that his first-half tackle on Racing fullback Max Spring was only adjudged to be a yellow card, and his forearm to the head of scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec in the closing minutes was not much better.
In a hearing before an Independent Disciplinary Committee comprising Declan Goodwin (Wales), Chair, Jamie Corsi (Wales) and Bogdan Zebega (Romania), Barbeary admitted the tackle on Spring warranted a red card, but did not accept that the incident with Le Garrec did.
The committee upheld the citing for the first offence, but denied the second yellow warranted a red card, and subsequently banned the forward for six weeks. That was slashed in half, however, because of his good disciplinary record.
An EPCR statement said: “The committee upheld the first citing complaint finding that Barbeary had tackled Spring in a dangerous manner, making contact with his neck area. It then decided that although Barbeary’s challenge on Le Garrec was an act of foul play and that the match officials were not wrong in issuing him with a yellow card, the player’s actions did not warrant a red card and the citing complaint was dismissed.”
Barbeary will now be unavailable for Bath’s Champions Cup fixture with Toulouse this weekend, their Gallagher Premiership clash with Bristol Bears and England A’s fixture with Portugal in February, which he was in line to be selected for. He will therefore be available to play from Monday February 26, unless he completes for the World Rugby Coaching Intervention, where he will be free to play from Monday January 29.
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Bizarrely, though his performance was bookended by two yellow cards, he was probably the best player on the pitch for the hour that he was playing against the Top 14 leaders. He was at his rampaging best against the Parisians, scoring one try and having another disallowed as Bath overturned a 22-8 deficit in the second half.
The former Wasps back row’s hearing came just hours after he was omitted from Steve Borthwick’s England squad for the Guinness Six Nations. The England head coach admitted that the hearing was a factor in his decision to leave Barbeary out, but was eager to emphasise that he will feature for England in the near future.
Whether he features for England later in the Six Nations when he has served his ban or perhaps in the summer, it is unknown, but his scintillating form has not gone unnoticed this season.
“I rate Alfie very highly and he knows that I have said that to him,” Borthwick said. “We met a couple of weeks ago at a health food cafe in Bath and we had a good chat then, I spoke to him a week ago and yesterday and have been in regular contact with him.
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“It is a competitive position and I think he has done really well.
“The disciplinary hearing tonight is a factor, I want certainty around the squad going forward. He has had some injury setbacks and it has tested his character.
“I think he is going to feature in the England team in the near future. If he continues the way he is going I think he is going to have a big part to play for English Rugby.
“I was recalling when I was coaching Leicester at the time and we were playing against Wasps, we were looking to equal a record for consecutive wins and we lost that day and Alfie’s performance in the second half of that game was incredible. I remember being sat there watching it and thinking this guy, he is not in the England squad now, but he will be an England regular in the future.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
1 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
1 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
185 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
185 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
185 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
185 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
185 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
185 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
185 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the desperation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
185 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
185 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
2 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
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