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Sharks centre Esterhuizen hit with six-week ban
By Peter Thompson
Sharks centre Andre Esterhuizen has been banned for six weeks for a dangerous tackle on Rebels wing Sefa Naivalu at Kings Park on Saturday.
Esterhuizen was sent off in the first half of a drab 9-9 Super Rugby draw in Durban after lifting Naivalu off his feet and ploughing him head first into the deck.
The 23-year-old was given a four-week suspension for a tip tackle on Stormers back-row Michael Rhodes two years ago and now faces another lengthy absence.
Judicial Committee chairman Michael Heron QC ruled: "Having conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all camera angles and additional evidence, including from the player and submissions from his legal representative, Thembelani Mayosi, the Judicial Committee accepted a guilty plea from the Player in respect of Law 10.4(j).
"With respect to sanction the Judicial Committee deemed the act of foul merited a mid-range entry point of 10 weeks. It was deemed to be reckless in nature and placed the opposing player in an extremely dangerous position.
"In regards to aggravating factors, it was noted that the player was suspended for a similar offence in 2015 and subsequently one week was added to the suspension period.
"However, taking into account mitigating factors including the player's excellent conduct throughout the judicial process, his on-field apology to the opposing player, his remorse and his early guilty plea, the Foul Play Review Committee reduced the suspension to 6 weeks."
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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