Broadhurst cops one-week ban
Hurricanes lock James Broadhurst has escaped with a slap on the wrist after an ugly act of foul play.
The veteran second row forward will miss just this coming Friday's derby clash against the Highlanders in Dunedin, after being suspended for a week for kneeing Blues loose forward Luke Braid in the face.
SANZAR judicial officer Robert Stelzner accepted Broadhurst's guilty plea and suspended him from all forms of the game for one week, up until and including March 20.
The incident occurred in the 61st minute of last Friday's match between the Hurricanes and Blues at Palmerston North, and left Braid with a concussion.
Stelzner said in his judgment that he was "satisfied that the player did not deliberately strike his opponent, Luke Braid, with his knee to his opponent's head" but "did make contact in a careless manner".
"The player was being held as he was trying to move away from the ruck, being made to go somewhat off balance by being held, and in the process of extricating himself from the ruck to get back into the defensive line, the player brought his body weight down forcibly onto his opponent.
"In the process of doing this, the player struck his opponent on his cheek with his lower leg causing his opponent's head to hit the ground and subsequently suffer concussion symptoms."
Stelzner said he took into account Broadhurst's impeccable disciplinary record and the remorse he showed after the incident.
"The player accepted he had contravened Law 10.4[a] and expressed remorse for doing so. He also apologised to his opponent after the match.
"The player is 27 years of age with a clean record, never having been cited before in more than 50 Super Rugby matches," he said.
"Given the above mitigating circumstances, I came to the conclusion that a sanction of a one-week suspension was appropriate in the circumstances of this incident.
"SANZAR Judicial Rules and World Rugby Regulations permit a discount of more than 50 percent of the prescribed sanction in circumstances where there are compelling off-field mitigating factors and where the sanction would otherwise be wholly disproportionate to the level and type of the offending."
