Aki banned for bulk of Six Nations

DISCIPLINARY UPDATE: Ireland and Connacht centre Bundee Aki will miss the bulk of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign following his disciplinary update.

A misconduct complaint made against Connacht centre Bundee Aki has been upheld by an Independent Disciplinary Committee, resulting in a six-week suspension, two of which are suspended for two years.

The player appeared in front of an Independent Disciplinary Committee on Wednesday, chaired by Roddy Dunlop KC (Scotland) and supported by Attie Heyns (South Africa) and Andrea Caranci (Italy), who considered the complaint related to misconduct in breach of the United Rugby Championship’s disciplinary rules (including Clauses 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3).

The Misconduct charges arose from the Round 10 United Rugby Championship fixture on Saturday, January 24, at Dexcom Stadium, Galway.

After considering all of the submissions, the Independent Committee deemed that the player engaged with the match official team after the game on several occasions in a manner which breached the disciplinary rules.

The Independent Committee concluded that the Player’s behaviour constituted verbal abuse and disrespect of a match official(s) under the relevant rules.

In determining its sanction, the Independent Committee felt that a suspension of six (6) weeks was appropriate, with two (2) of those weeks suspended.

The committee also recognised the player’s full regret for his actions and was grateful for the approach that he took towards the proceedings.

However, given the Player’s previous disciplinary record (including incidents of a similar nature) and his lack of a plea in this case, the independent committee could not apply mitigation to the sanction.

The committee reminded the player of the importance of the spirit and values of the game of rugby and the importance of respect towards match officials.

The Player was reminded of his right to appeal.

Fixtures Bundee Aki is unavailable for

January 31 – URC: Zebre Parma v Connacht

February 5 – Six Nations: France v Ireland

February 14 – Six Nations: Ireland v Italy

February 21 – Six Nations: England v Ireland

URC Disciplinary Rules

Clause 3.1

Without prejudice to any powers World Rugby has to investigate and/or sanction misconduct under World Rugby Regulations 6 and 18 or otherwise, any act or acts of Misconduct and/or the commission of any Anti-Corruption Offence(s) may result in disciplinary proceedings being brought and (where appropriate) sanctions being imposed on the Person(s) involved and/or his/her Club.

Clause 3.2

For the purposes of the Disciplinary Rules, “Misconduct” shall mean any act of Foul Play by a Player and/or any conduct, behaviour, statements (including, without limitation, statements made on social networking platforms) or practices by a Club and/or any of its Players, its other Persons or its supporters, on or off the Playing Enclosure, during a Match or otherwise, that is unsporting and/or insulting and/or that brings or has the potential to bring the sport of rugby union, the United Rugby Championship, other Clubs or Persons, match officials, one or more of the Unions and/or any sponsor or other commercial partner of the United Rugby Championship into disrepute and/or that is not in accordance with the competition’s Participation Agreement.

Clause 3.3 provides examples of “Misconduct” which includes the following:

While it is not possible to draw up a definitive and exhaustive list of types of conduct that may amount to Misconduct under these Disciplinary Rules, each of the following types of behaviour by a Club and/or its Players, its other Persons or its supporters is an example of (and constitutes) Misconduct under these Disciplinary Rules:

3.3.14: unsportsmanlike conduct before, during or after a Match (including making requests to Match officials that an opponent be penalised and/or Temporarily Suspended and/orshown a red card; making dishonest accusations of Foul Play against an opponent and/or feigning/exaggerating injury; making inappropriate and/or sarcastic gestures to an opponent and/or a Match official and/or spectators; and intimidating and/or exhibiting a lack of respect for Match officials and/or Pro Rugby Championship representatives, which will include Club medics, Club managers and Club coaches communicating (or attempting to communicate) with any of the relevant Match officials (including the television match official) at any point during a Match (unless invited to do so by the relevant Match official) and/or any Persons entering or attempting to enter the Match officials’ changing room(s), each in breach of clause 4.13 of the Championship Rules);

Please note: The above Clauses align with World Rugby’s regulations regarding Misconduct, specifically regulation 18.4 (b): Whilst it is not possible to provide a definitive and exhaustive list of the types of conduct, behaviour, statements or practices that may amount to Misconduct under these Regulations, by way of illustration, each of the following types of conduct, behaviour, statements or practices however or wheresoever undertaken are examples of and constitute Misconduct:

(b) acting in an abusive, insulting, intimidating or offensive manner towards referees, assistant referees, Citing Commissioners, members of Disciplinary Tribunals or other officials or any person associated with the Host Union, the Rugby Body or the Unions participating in the Match or spectators;