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Kick in the face leads to heaviest suspension yet at the World Cup
By Liam Heagney
The heaviest suspension to be handed down at the World Cup has been dished out to Tonga hooker Paula Ngauamo after he was cited for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.12 (kicking) in their Pool C win over against USA in Osaka.
Tuesday’s independent Judicial Committee in Tokyo was chaired by Alan Hudson (Canada) joined by former international player Stefan Terblanche (South Africa) and former referee Valeriu Toma (Romania).
The player admitted that he had kicked his opponent in the face and accepted this was at least mid-range offending as he had made contact with his opponent’s head.
The committee agreed and applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point, which was introduced in 2017 to protect player welfare, deter high contact and prevent head injuries. This resulted in a starting point of an eight-week suspension.
Taking into account the mitigating factors that are considered in relation to sanction, including the player’s early admission and disciplinary record, the committee reduced the eight-week entry point by one week, resulting in a sanction of seven weeks.
Ngauamo is returning to Tonga on Tuesday prior to resuming club duty with Agen in the Top 14. The player will be suspended for his next seven weeks of club rugby on his return to France.
WATCH: The RugbyPass documentary on Tonga's preparations for Rugby World Cup 2019
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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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