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Amanaki Mafi appears in court after incident with teammate
By Online Editors
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.
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.
“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.
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I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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