Stormers prop's controversial red card overturned
BREAKING NEWS: Stormers prop Sazi Sandi had his red card and ban overturned and is free to play.
Sandi won an appeal on Tuesday against his three-week ban, following a controversial red card that was issued in the Stormers’ Round Three United Rugby Championship win (34-18) over Edinburgh in Cape Town on October 1.
The Stormers prop and Edinburgh flank Jamie Ritchie collided head-on-head, with Irish referee Frank Murphy ruling that Sandi was at fault for the 74th-minute incident and showed him a red card.
The panel overseeing the disciplinary process – David Martin (Chairman), Kim Moloney and Chris Watts – ruled on October 6 that the incident met the red card threshold, with an entry of mid-range warranting six weeks.
The Player received 50 per cent mitigation and reduced the ban to three weeks.
Despite having already served one week of his ban, the 37-20 win over Zebre on October 8, the player exercised his right to appeal on Tuesday, October 11.
However, according to a URC media release, it was not possible to convene a panel ahead of the Stormers’ 16-all draw with Ospreys last Friday, October 14.
An appeal panel consisting of Roddy Dunlop (Scotland), Jennifer Donovan (Ireland) and Nigel Williams (Wales) met on Tuesday, October 18, to review the appeal.
“The panel found that there was mitigating evidence to reduce the red card to a yellow card and therefore overturn the original sanction and expunging the red card from the player’s record,” the statement, only released a day later on Wednesday, said.
“As a result, the player is now free to play and is available for the Stormers’ URC Round Six game with Cardiff this weekend,” the statement said of Saturday’s encounter at Arms Park.
However, it is unlikely he’ll feature in Cardiff, as he is still stuck in South Africa after the initial ban.
As a result, he has missed the Stormers’ tour to Europe and all three games.
The only positive is that the red card is removed from his record.
The reversal follows another controversial incident involving the Stormers this past weekend.
(Continue below the Sazi Sandi incident…)
The refereeing standards of the URC were placed under the microscope after a high tackle on World Cup-winning Springbok front row forward Steven Kitshoff went unpunished in the encounter with the Ospreys.
Kitshoff made a decisive run in the second half when Ospreys flank Ethan Roots put in a high shot on the Stormers’ prop.
Roots’ shoulder clearly made contact with Kitshoff’s head, which led to the TMO referral.
The tackler stayed upright and made contact with the head.
However, TMO Matteo Liperini with the referee Gianluca Gnecchi deemed there was nothing sinister and the incident went unpunished.
The whole affair certainly does not reflect well on the state of refereeing in URC given, given the Sandi red card and subsequent reversal.
* (Steven Kitshoff incident follows below …)
