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Fergus McFadden won't play rugby again for four months after ban for headbutt
By Online Editors
Leinster wing Fergus McFadden's season is over after he faced a Disciplinary Hearing today via a video conference where was been banned for 'striking with the head'.
A Disciplinary Panel convened in Edinburgh to consider the citing against the player resulting from the Round 21 fixture against Ulster Rugby on April 27.
The player was reported by the Citing Commissioner in charge for alleged infringement of Law 9.12 – A player must not physically abuse anyone.
The Disciplinary Panel, comprising Roddy MacLeod, Frank Hadden and Beth Dickens (all Scotland), concluded that the player had committed an act of foul play involving contact to the head.
A statement reads:
"In upholding the Citing Complaint, the Disciplinary Committee deemed that the offence merited a red card under Law 9.12 (Striking with head) and that the contact to the head was intentional with a mid-range entry point of 10 weeks.
"The Committee took into account the Player’s previous disciplinary record and his good conduct acceptance of culpability, his remorse and his engagement with the instant disciplinary process (including at the hearing) and applied mitigation which reduced the ban to six weeks.
"To ensure the six-week ban accounts for meaningful matches played by Leinster Rugby and Irish Rugby, the player will be free to play from midnight on Sunday, August 25, 2019.
"The Player was reminded of his right to appeal."
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Latest Comments
Steve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
Go to commentsBut still Australians. Only Australia can help itself seems to be the key message.
Blaming Kiwis is deflecting from the actual problem.
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