Fergus McFadden won't play rugby again for four months after ban for headbutt
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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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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