Henry faces misconduct hearing
World Cup-winning former All Black coach Graham Henry is set to face the full might of SANZAR's disciplinary process after his media rant this week.
SANZAR on Thursday revealed they have brought a misconduct complaint against Henry, currently an assistant coach at the Blues.
This follows comments he made at a Blues media conference earlier this week – which was aired on TV NZ News on Tuesday, May 21 and which were widely reported through other media outlets and online.
"The complaint has been referred in the first instance to SANZAR duty judicial officer Jannie Lubbe, in accordance with Rule 10.12 of the SANZAR disciplinary rules contained in the 2013 Super Rugby tournament manual," a statement from SARNZAR said.
"In bringing this complaint, SANZAR will allege that the comments made amount to misconduct under Rule 10 of the SANZAR disciplinary rules and breach the SANZAR Code of Conduct Section 8.3 (a) and (e)."
The hearing will take place via teleconference on Sunday, May 26.
SANZAR – the controlling body of Southern hemisphere rugby, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and now also Argentina – said they will be making no further comment until this process has been completed.
This comes less than a week after the Stormers were fined a total of AU$25,000 (about ZAR228,450) and also ordered to pay SANZAR’s costs after they were found guilty of misconduct and bringing the game into disrepute for abusing a match official.
The Cape side faced charges of "insulting and offensive" conduct towards match officials during the Stormers versus Hurricanes match on April 26.
Henry's comments are certainly far more serious given that he took to the world-wide media to air his grievances and lash out at match officials, whereas the Stormers were not public at all with their criticism of one misbehaving touch judge.
Henry is a man who is no stranger to letting the rugby world know how he feels – not long ago having claimed match fixing was behind the All Blacks' exit at the 2007 World Cup – and he did not hold back when speaking to the media after their loss to the Crusaders last week.
The former All Black coach firstly attacked the TMO after he felt that he backed out on making a contentious decision that would have lead to a Blues try.
He suggested the TMO was "blind" and questioned a number of calls by the match officials – including a yellow card issued against the Blues.
