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Disciplinary hearing vindicates latest Peyper red card decision
South African referee Jaco Peyper has had his latest Dublin red card decision vindicated at a disciplinary hearing. It was March when the red card brandished by Peyper to England’s Freddie Steward during the Guinness Six Nations finale against Ireland in Dublin was rescinded at a follow-up disciplinary.
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However, there was no similar let-off for Michael Ala’alatoa, the Leinster sub who was sent off in the dying moments of last Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup final at the same ground.
In the immediate aftermath of the sending-off, beaten Leinster coach Leo Cullen said: “I’ll have to look back on it in more detail. You have got to just trust the referee’s call on the day.”
Meanwhile, winning La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara reckoned: “It’s very unfortunate for Mike Ala’alatoa. You have got to come in at that pace to shift bodies. Unfortunately, he got his angle wrong and it’s a head collision and it’s a red card. Desperately disappointing for him because he is a good guy and he plays with aggression, but he is very, very fair.”
The Samoan prop will now pay a three-game Rugby World Cup preparation price, a sanction that can be reduced to two if he successfully completes the World Rugby tackle school.
A statement read: “The Leinster replacement prop, Michael Ala’alatoa, has been suspended for three weeks following an independent disciplinary hearing arising from the Heineken Champions Cup final on May 20. Ala’alatoa was sent off by the referee, Jaco Peyper (South Africa), in the 78th minute of the match at the Aviva Stadium for charging into a ruck in a dangerous manner and for making contact with the head area of the Stade Rochelais replacement prop, Georges-Henri Colombe, in contravention of law 9.20(a).
“An independent disciplinary committee comprising Roddy Dunlop (Scotland, chair), Leon Lloyd (England) and Frank Hadden (Scotland) studied video imagery of the incident and heard evidence from Ala’alatoa who accepted the red card decision.
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“The committee also heard submissions from the player’s legal representative, Derek Hegarty, from Leinster head of rugby operations Guy Easterby, as well as from EPCR disciplinary officer Liam McTiernan.
“The committee upheld the red card decision, finding that Ala’alatoa had charged into the ruck in contravention of law 9.20(a) and had also made contact with the head of Colombe, in a dangerous manner.
“It then determined that the offending was at the mid-range of World Rugby’s sanctions and six weeks was selected as the appropriate entry point. As the player has a clear disciplinary record and due to his acceptance of the red card, it was decided to grant him the full 50 per cent mitigation and the committee reduced the sanction by three weeks before imposing a three-week suspension.
“Ala’alatoa is suspended for Samoa’s fixtures against Japan on July 22, against Fiji on July 29 and against Tonga on August 5. He is free to play on Monday, August 7. However, if he applies for and successfully completes a World Rugby coaching intervention, he will be free to play on Monday, July 31.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments