1
England centre Piers Francis cleared after citing dismissed
By Online Editors
England centre Piers Francis has been cleared to continue playing in the World Cup after his citing for a dangerous tackle was dismissed on the grounds it was not a red card offence.
Francis caught Eagles full-back Will Hooley with a shoulder-led challenge to the head in the opening seconds of Thursday’s 45-7 victory at Kobe Misaki Stadium.
At the disciplinary hearing in Tokyo that took place on Sunday, Francis admitted the tackle was dangerous but insisted it warranted a sin-binning only and the committee agreed.
“Having considered all the angles of the incident, together with evidence from the player and submissions from his legal counsel, the panel determined that the act ought to have resulted in a yellow card on-field,” a World Rugby statement read.
“Since the threshold for upholding a citing is ‘red card’, the committee did not uphold the citing and the player is free to play again immediately.”
Mitigating factors such as Hooley’s sudden change in height before contact and Francis’ attempt to change his own height shaped the decision.
It means Francis is free to play in the crunch Pool C clash with Argentina on Saturday, although as a fringe player in Eddie Jones’ squad he is unlikely to be involved.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Jake White: Ireland, Australia and Wales have the same problem
3
David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner
4
Let's be real about these All Blacks
5
Latest Comments
Agreed. Borthwick will have to write a new excuse book soon .
I have looked at the two world cup final teams from 2003 and 2020.
2003 team scored 187 tries between them in 389 caps
2020 team scored 113 tries between them in 473 caps. As you can see a huge disparity in scoring rate. Only Johnny May with 36 tries in 78 caps scored a higher amount of tries. Elliot Daly comes close but the rest are frankly very poor.
Farrell and Ford scored a pathetic 20 tries between them in a combined 210 caps.
There again , the 2003 team did have Wilko and Greenwood etc whereas 2020 team had Ford and Farrell .
So much people saying that Fords strength is of bringing others into the game .
Really. The figures totally disprove that notion .
It has been mentioned elsewhere that we have accepted mediocrity far too often and the figures would indicate that players are or have been picked far too often without performing .
Go to commentsNot disputing that NZ are ahead of Eng. Also not saying Eng are unlucky (though clearly the tone of the article is not that the ABs were unlucky but that they 'should have' won). Your team are looking great and are on the up. I just felt that Pundits have argued Eng 'should have' won the first test against the ABs, when it's more nuanced than that, and very fine margins determine results that Eng didn't get right. Same applies, therefore, to NZ and other nations. Ben Smith though doesn't seem to see it that way. To be clear: I'm not saying I agree with the 'should haves', but more that I take issue with the phrasing.
Good to see your respect for other nations is so strong! Proper rugby fan you are!!!
Go to comments