Farcical ban for Shaw
Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:05
The farcical nature of the citing and indeed entire judicial process on the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa continued on Sunday when Lions lock Simon Shaw was suspended for two weeks.
Shaw was cited for his act of hooliganism in the his side's 28-9 victory over the Springboks in the third and final Test of the series in Johannesburg at the weekend - after the lock's two-kneed lunge injured Springbok Fourie du Preez and forced the No.9 to later leave the field.
Shaw was found guilty of "striking" Du Preez with his knee in the 37th minute of the first half of the match, breaching Law 10.4 (a).
Referee Stuart Dickinson yellow-carded Shaw for the offence.
Law 10.4 (a) 'Punching or striking' determines: A player must not strike an opponent with the fist or the arm, including the elbow and the shoulder , head or knee(s).
Judicial officer Alan Hudson of Canada suspended Shaw for two weeks, which was deferred to conclude at midnight on August 22.
He is the second Lion to be cited and suspended on the tour. The first was Nathan Hines for a dangerous tackle in the match against the Emerging Springboks.
However, what makes Shaw's "ban" so ridiculous is that he will only miss a couple of 'pre-season club friendlies', even with the deferment till August 22.
This should also been seen in the light of the same judicial officer, Hudson, handing down a two-week ban to Bok lock Bakkies Botha - which ruled the South African out of the third Test.
Hudson found Botha guilty of transgressing Law 10.4 (j) by "dangerously" charging into a ruck without binding on a player - in the second Test.
Hudson's ruling against Botha sparked wide condemnation of the entire judicial process and resulted in the Boks staging an on-field protest at the weekend by wearing white armbands with the word 'justice' in print on it.
Bok captain John Smit, who received support from the Lions management and team members over the Botha ban, said at a media briefing that the ban may well be victimisation of the Bok lock.
The meaningless ban handed down to Shaw, along with the fact that at least two other Lions players should have been cited for foul play in the third Test, will add further weight to the argument that South African players are being unfairly treated at judicial hearings.
It is pretty obvious that Hudson, in his own rulings in two cases on tour, have not been consistent - which has already resulted in calls for the IRB to step in and stop the farcical situation to escalate.
New Zealand citing officer Steve Hinds - who also cited Botha for what both the Bok and Lions camps described as a perfectly legal 'clean-out' - cited Shaw, but overlooked at least two other incidents far worse than that of which Botha was pointed out for.
There were calls for both Lions scrumhalf Mile Phillips and No.8 Jamie Heaslip to be cited for foul play.
Phillips' high tackle on Jaque Fourie resulted in the Bok centre having to leave the field in order to receive medical treatment.
But an even worse oversight by Hinds was his failure to cite Heaslip, after the Irishman charged into a ruck - from the side and without any attempt to use his arms. It not only left Bok hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle dazed, but also contributed to the South African No.2's failure to take the field after half-time.
By Jan de Koning
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