Young Connacht winger suspended for breakdown incident
Connacht winger Byron Ralston has faced a disciplinary hearing after being cited for an act of foul play in the 39th minute of the BKT United Rugby Championship Round 9 match against Munster on January 1st.
Ralston was cited for his attempted clearout on Jack O'Donoghue, being ruled to have infringed under Law 9.20d - Dangerous play in a ruck or maul; A player may lever the jackler out of the contest at the ruck but must not drop their weight onto them or target the lower limbs.
Byron Ralston was yellow carded and has been cited for this. 2/2. I think there is a lack of consistency here. pic.twitter.com/n2fR4hb7E3
— Rob Murphy (@murphyrob) January 8, 2024
O'Donoghue had to leave the field with a knee injury, while Ralston was only sin-binned at the time.
The 23-year-old Australian has since been suspended for three matches.
The Panel overseeing the disciplinary process found that Ralston had entered the contest in a manner that was reckless, with no realistic prospect of levering the jackler in a legal fashion and where he ought to have known that there was a likelihood of foul play and resulting injury.
Accordingly, the incident met the Red Card threshold, with entry of mid-range warranting six game suspension.
However, the Panel reduced the suspension to three games (50% mitigation) due to his good record, apology and exemplary conduct in the hearing.
The former Western Force player will miss two Champions Cup matches, in Connacht's trip to Lyon on January 13th and against Bristol at home on January 19th. He will also miss the URC fixture against Cardiff Rugby on February 17th.
In the same match, teammate Mack Hansen had his shoulder dislocated in a similar incident. He underwent surgery on Monday and will miss Ireland's Six Nations campaign.
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Andy Goode just loves to be controversial. Its boring. Let’s all stop reading.
Go to commentsYou have got to consider that if the situation was flipped and the French were held to a salary cap with no English equivalent, the English would laugh in their faces and tell them to get over it. As for Leinster (as a fan), the central contract system is a dream but is guilty of cutting out the other 3 provinces. At the end of the day, it comes across outside of the English border that the Premiership is drowning and trying to take everyone else with it rather than adapt. The English lose, the English want new rules. We've seen this repeat (and once it even led to the current Champions Cup) You make many good and informed points, but if the flip was on the other flop, it wouldn't be Rugby’s problem I suspect - it would be a French one.
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