Second row Pascal Papé has today been banned for 10 weeks for kneeing Jamie Heaslip in the back during France’s Six Nations encounter with Ireland last weekend. It left the Ireland back-rower with fractured vertebrae that will keep him out of the next game against England.
Video credit: RBS 6 Nations
The lock was shown a yellow card at the time, but the disciplinary panel deemed that the offence was worthy of a red. They went on to say that it was at the top end on the scale of seriousness, which has an entry point of 15 weeks. Mitigating factors reduced the ban to 10 weeks. Their statement read:
The Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Rod McKenzie (Scotland) along with Bill Dunlop (Scotland) and Ian Unsworth QC (England), having heard from the player and his representatives and viewed various TV angles of the incident, determined that Pascal Pape had committed an act of foul play which merited a red card rather than the on-field yellow card given by the Match Officials.
The Disciplinary Committee decided that the offence should be categorised at the top end of World Rugby’s scale of seriousness and set an entry point of a 15 week suspension. It noted further the absence of aggravating factors and the existence of certain mitigating factors, including the player’s admission of foul play and his expressions of remorse for what had occurred and the injury sustained by his opponent, in applying a five week (33%) reduction from the entry point.
Pascal Pape is suspended for 10 weeks and has the right of appeal.
Do you think it is a fair punishment?
10 replies on “Pascal Papé receives 10 week ban for kneeing Jamie Heaslip”
its a tough one – i missed it at full speed but the replay shows intent to injure with a knee. seems fair to me; you would get similar for a random punch thrown at an unsuspecting opponent (and i have been on the wrong side of that a few times) – but a knee to the back could take someone out for the whole of the tournament.
Could have caused much more damage,however in light of seemingly much more incidents seems a bit tough!
Mmmmm. Got Heaslip allright. Looked innocuous enough on 1st viewing, but this sort of thing must go on a lot. Was Heaslip offside? Obstructing? This also goes on a lot too in mauls, rucks etc. Not condoning, as prevention is best cure, but a few yrs back would this not likely have been considered a form of rough justice if Heaslip was on the Fr side of the maul?
Maybe if refs, not to mention the IRB’s (WR’s) non enforcement of rules, stamped, er… clamped down on the incessant cheating in the game, from crooked feeds, lying on, kicking the ball away after the whistle & so on, it might make players (& coaches) think more about discipline.
Heaslip is one of the tacklers and he is trying to hold the French player up to force the maul and hopefully a turnover, so I don’t think he’s offside or obstructing. I don’t think Barnes had called it as a maul before Pape arrives
Use of the knee has always been frowned upon, i remember Simon Saw getting doen a couple of time for it – once v NZ many years ago and again for the lions vs SA
Seems harsh to me, would have thought 8 weeks would have been more like it.
‘For me it was not an accident…’ said Barnes who clearly missed the incident in the 1st place – when does he ever get the ‘real’ decisions correct? Better @ wrecking a guy’s chances for a Lions’ tour because his ego was offended than getting the important bits right.
Anyway, upon reviewing the infringement it’s hard to tell from the angle whether Heaslip was off side or not. Or whether he was trying to pull the maul down, or wrestling for the ball. Seemed to be going down though as his knees were pretty near the deck. Either way, can’t condone a foul.
Heaslip’s out & now so’s Pape. From a practical stand point, good for England maybe?
Oh, almost forgot. Was the punishment fair? 2 & 1/2 months? 6 weeks out, 4 weeks community service & a personal apology to Heaslip… with a bunch of flowers more… more appropriate? Actually, it’s not funny as Heaslip is out of the 6N… & he is a pretty influential player. Not that the latter ought to have a moral bearing, but it certainly won’t help Ireland.
I genuinely don’t know whether this was fair. The bans handed out are so inconsistent.
My view is that intent to (or possibly likelihood of) causing injury should be the determining factor in such cases, in which case I struggle to see how this is three times worse than elbowing someone in the jaw.
On another point: there were two instances this weekend, and there’ve been many others, where the on-field referees have seen replays of incidents, in slow motion and from different angles, and concluded it should be a yellow card, yet the citing panel have said it’s a clear red card.
Where is this discrepancy coming from?
Watching it live, I thought he was lucky to just get a yellow, and watching it again in slow motion, I think the ban is fair. What was Hartley’s ban recently for elbowing Matt Smith in the face?
3 weeks, even taking his previous into account.