Peato Mauvaka to face independent disciplinary hearing after being cited for foul play
Yesterday at 12:46 PM
FRANCE hooker Peato Mauvaka will face an independent disciplinary hearing after he was cited for an act of foul play during his team’s Six Nations round five victory over Scotland on Saturday night.
The 28-year-old was shown a yellow-card during the first half of the match after he dived on top of Scotland scrum-half Ben White, who was lying on the ground, and appeared to force his head into his opponent’s face. The incident was referred by referee Matthew Carley to the game’s foul play review officer, Ian Tempest, to decide whether the sanction should be upgraded to a 20 minute red-card, meaning that Mauvaka would not be allowed back on the pitch but France would be allowed to bring another player on in his place 20 minutes later.
Much to the bemusement of supporters, pundits and the Scotland squad, Tempest decided that 10 minutes in the sin-bin was punishment enough, and Mauvaka was able to rejoin the fray before half-time.
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Mauvaka has now been cited for conduct contrary to Law 9.12 (A player must not … strike with any part of the arm, shoulder, head or knee(s)). The player will attend the hearing via video conference before an independent Disciplinary Committee consisting of Jennifer Donovan (Ireland) as chair, with the other two Disciplinary Committee members to be confirmed in due course. The hearing will take place on Thursday 20th March 2025 at 10am (GMT).
Speaking after Saturday’s match, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: "The decision not to raise it to a red-card was because there was not excessive force. I'm not sure that's really the criteria for a non-tackle incident.
"It clearly was a non-tackle incident, it was after the whistle. So, if there was head contact and that was intentional, it shouldn't be anything to do with the force that was involved.
"It was after the play. I feel sorry for Ben White here, because he did nothing. He was first of all pushed to the ground, and a push is nothing in rugby, and then he got collided in the head, so I don't know how it wasn't raised to a red card, but whether that has had anything to do with the final result, who knows? Because France deserved the win, deserve to be champions, they're a quality side. Even though we played really well at times tonight, France were the better team in the end."
World Rugby regulations state that:
17.10.1 Citing Commissioners shall be entitled to cite a Player for any act(s) of Foul Play which in the opinion of the Citing Commissioner warranted the Player concerned being Ordered Off (the "Red Card test").
17.10.2 Citing Commissioners may cite Players for an act(s) of Foul Play where such act(s) may have been detected by the referee or assistant referee and which may have been the subject of referee action. A Citing Commissioner may not cite a Player for an act(s) of Foul Play in respect of which the Player has been Ordered Off save where the Ordering Off is as a result of two yellow cards. A Player in that situation may also be cited for the act(s) of Foul Play which resulted in either or both yellow card(s).
The post Peato Mauvaka to face independent disciplinary hearing after being cited for foul play appeared first on Scottish Rugby News from The Offside Line.
