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Decisions are in from the Nonu red card and Tekori citing hearings
By Sam Smith
Former All Blacks midfielder Ma'a Nonu will miss Friday's Champions Cup round of 16 match at Leicester after he was suspended for three weeks following his red card while playing for Toulon last weekend in the Top 14 at Lyon. Ex-Samoa international Joe Tekori, though, will be available for the Toulouse match on Saturday at Munster despite citing following a French league game versus Montpellier.
The soon-to-be 39-year-old Nonu, the 103-times capped All Black centre, rejoined Toulon earlier this season following a stint in Major League Rugby but he has now paid a price for his sending-off at Matmut Stadium.
A Top 14 disciplinary hearing statement read: "Ma'a Nonu was found responsible for brutality and in particular for punching or hitting with the hand or the arm. Given the severity, a six-week suspension was proposed.
"In view of the mitigating circumstances (acknowledgement of guilt and expression of remorse), the sanction was reduced by three weeks leaving Nonu suspended for three weeks.
The suspension took effect on the day of the game and given that the schedule of matches to be played by Toulon, Nonu's re-qualification date will be communicated later."
Tekori, the 37-year-old who had 37 Samoan caps, was found not guilty at his disciplinary hearing. A statement read: "After viewing the video images of the action in question, hearing the arguments of Tekori and his representatives, the disciplinary and rules committee decided that there was no reason for disciplinary action. Tekori is therefore qualified to play in Toulouse's next match.
It's a favourable outcome for Toulouse given that red tape surround virus regulations will deny them the use of Rynhardt Elstadt in Ireland. The Springboks forward would have been free to play if the game was in France as he had served the necessary isolation period following a recent trip to South Africa, but Irish protocols governing people who have in that country are longer.
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Latest Comments
I'm honestly not so sure. I initially thought just reckless mainly because no player should be capable of doing that intentionally.
There's a strong argument that he's working both the eyes. It's his left hand he uses which is furthest from the ball he's contesting. His fingers are also clenched which I don't think is a natural way to try and rip a ball.
Go to comments"I see those teams, SA in particular, as only improving their performances in EPCR."
well, its gone the opposite direction so far!
"I don't like your model that requires them to reach Semi Final level in the Challenge trophy, given the bottleneck that will be URC with 16 teams playing for only 4 places."
my model would have given SA 3 spots in a 16 team CC this year, which is the same number as they have in the 24 team version that is actually taking place. But yes, if they keep getting worse it would get harder for them to get places. It would also get harder for you to argue that they deserve places though!
"I suggest by giving say Englands two semi finalist first seeds of the english teams, then the next best 4 on the league table as much better (it catches improving teams faster)."
interesting argument, but it doesn't always go that way. Gloucester are improving, but they improved in cup competitions before league fixtures started going their way. The same is true of Sharks, and the same was true of la Rochelle. I think maybe this is just an argument for allowing more teams to qualify via the challenge cup!
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