Leicester boss charged over ref row
Leicester Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill is to be investigated over an angry exchange with the fourth official during the English Premiership Final, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced on Monday.
The RFU has charged Cockerill over his conduct towards Stuart Terheege during Leicester's 37-17 victory over Northampton at Twickenham on May 25.
The 42-year-old former England hooker is alleged to have used obscene, inappropriate and/or unprofessional language and behaviour. The date, venue and time of the hearing have not yet been made public.
Cockerill was aggrieved when what he saw as a late tackle by Northampton's Courtney Lawes on Toby Flood did not yield a yellow card for Lawes from referee Wayne Barnes, despite Flood subsequently having to leave the pitch with concussion.
Cockerill left the stands and came down to the touchline to remonstrate with Terheege and at half-time, Northampton assistant coach Dorian West told broadcasters ESPN that Cockerill had been "intimidating" match officials.
The match was a highly charged affair, with Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley sent off for a foul-mouthed blast at Barnes, who he accused of being a "cheat". Hartley was subsequently banned for 11 weeks, ruling him out of the British and Irish Lions' tour of Australia.
Speaking after the game, Cockerill defended himself.
"For me, that is the sanction of a yellow card and potentially more. A guy has had to leave the field because of that incident," he said.
"I am allowed to talk to the officials. When a player of ours is potentially seriously injured, I will talk to whoever I want."
Cockerill is no stranger to disciplinary action.
In 2009 he was banned for four weeks after abusing officials during an Anglo-Welsh Cup tie with Newport-Gwent Dragons, and he has already been warned by the RFU about his conduct towards officials on two previous occasions.
AFP
