France accuse Six Nations of double standards, call on World Rugby for clarity
Today at 02:50 AM
World Rugby has been approached to given clarification on what France say are double standards by the Six Nations in its handing down of suspensions.
France, through its governing body the French Rugby Federation, have contacted World Rugby to get clarity over the dissimilar bans for Romain Ntamack and Ireland’s Garry Ringrose.
Ringrose received a yellow carded in Ireland's 27-18 victory over Wales in the third round of the Six Nations, but it was later upgraded to a red card following an off-field review.
And he was subsequently handed a three-week ban, under Law 9.13, which states that a player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously.
The suspension could be reduced to two if he completes World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme – otherwise known as tackle school.
However, it has now been confirmed that the initial three-match ban included Leinster’s United Rugby Championship win over Cardiff on the weekend, meaning that while he’ll miss next weekend’s clash with France, he’ll be available for their final match of the tournament against Italy.
And this has left the French fuming, because by contrast Ntamack was forced to miss their games with England and Italy due to his red card in the opener against Wales.
Toulouse had a match against Clermont in between those two Tests and the FFR, like the IRFU with Ringrose, claimed that he would have been available for club selection if not banned, but that was rejected.
"Like everyone else, we were very surprised when we learned of the decision of SNRL (Six Nations Rugby Limited) concerning Garry Ringrose, in comparison with the terms of application of the sanction that had been imposed on Romain Ntamack," FFR vice-president Jean-Marc Lhermet told Midi Olympique.
"However, the two cases seemed very comparable to us. This is why we contacted World Rugby for a request for explanations. We need to be enlightened as to what could have motivated such a difference."
"What we see, looking back, is that Garry Ringrose never played for his province in these matches during the Six Nations Tournament," Lhermet added.
"With the information at our disposal, nothing suggests that this would have been the case this time. That is why we have made a request for explanations.”
KEY DOCUMENTS: IRELAND’S ACCEPTED, FRANCE’S REJECTED
It is widely reported that Ireland were able to successfully argue that Leinster’s win over Cardiff counted towards his ban, while the FFR were unable to do the same with Toulouse match against Clermont.
It is understood that Ireland produced a document for each player which showed that Ringrose would be available for Leinster this weekend. However, France are understood to have done the same – with head coach Fabien Galthie claiming he had been considering releasing the fly-half to play for Toulouse.
DO YOU THINK THE SIX NATIONS ARE UNFAIR IN ITS SANCTIONS?
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