Jaguares lock Tomas Lavanini has been suspended for two weeks for charging into a ruck in his team’s loss to the Southern Kings on Saturday.
Lavanni was red carded in the 25th minute of the match and he then faced a hearing in which he was suspended for two weeks.
SANZAAR Duty Judicial Officer Michael Heron QC accepted a guilty plea from Lavanini for contravening Law 10.4 (h) A player must not charge into a ruck or maul, after he was Red Carded during a Super Rugby Match at the Weekend.
Lavanini charged into an opponent with his shoulder and made contact with his opponent’s head during the match between the Kings and Jaguares at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth on 27 May 2016.
Lavanini received a sanction of two weeks (covering two scheduled matches) with his next scheduled matches being Argentina v Italy, 11 June 2016 and Argentina v France, 18 June 2016. Consequently he is suspended up to and including Saturday 18 June 2016.
SANZAR Duty Judicial Officer Michael Heron QC assessed the case. In his finding, Heron ruled the following:
“The player, Mr Stefan Weyers (counsel), Mr Greg Peters (Jaguares CEO), Mr Rafael Laria (Jaguares Manager) and an interpreter attended the call. Mr Andreas Ramos, SAANZAR JO, also attended as an observer.
“The player accepted the charge. I agreed with Mr Weyers that the charge should be under Law 10(4)(h) as the opponent player did not have the ball. The player was remorseful and expressed regret to me for his actions.
“I accepted the submission that this was low end offending, it was not intentionally dangerous, no injury resulted and the only negative impact on the game was to the Jaguares and Mr Lavanini. For the reasons above, I indicated that I accepted a low end entry point under 10(4)(h) of two weeks.
“Mr Lavanini has three previous citings and a yellow card for similar dangerous play.
Because of his previous conduct and repeated offending, I indicated I would add a week to the suspension (to three weeks).
“Given his remorse, cooperation and early plea, I was prepared to reduce that by one week to a resulting suspension of two weeks (covering two matches) and I gave that indication.
“The next scheduled fixture for the player was an international match on 11 June for Argentina against Italy, following which the next fixture was an international match for Argentina against France. Accordingly, the suspension imposed is for two matches (being those international matches on 11 and 18 June) but takes effect from today up to and including 18 June 2016 (to include both those scheduled international matches).”
Duty Judicial Officer: Michael Heron QC
Player: Tomas Lavanini
Team: Jaguares
Position: Lock
Date of Incident: 28 May 2016
Nature of Offence: Law 10.4 (h) A player must not charge into a ruck or maul. Charging includes any contact made without use of the arms, or without grasping a player
Elapsed time in match when offence occurred: 25th minute
