Waratahs to appeal double ban

 

The duo were handed two- and four-week bans on Monday, following their combined actions in a spear tackle on the Crusaders' All Black lock Sam Whitelock.

 

Skelton has been suspended for two weeks up to and including Saturday June 6, 2015.

 

Latu has been sanctioned for four weeks up to and including Saturday June 20, 2015.

 

Latu received a longer suspension, simply because he had control of Whitelock's legs, and played a more dominant role in the incident.

 

The Tahs reacted to the bans by saying they will appeal the sanctions.

 

"I considered all the evidence before me including the video footage, additional video provided by the Waratahs, Citing Commissioner's report, medical information for the Crusaders' player, Sam Whitelock, who was involved in the incident and the submissions made for the players by their legal representatives," said Judicial Chairman Robert Stelzner.

 

"After taking all relevant facts into consideration, I found the incident to have a lower end entry point for breaching of 10.4 (j) Lifting Tackle which stipulates a four-week suspension.

 

"Mitigating factors [for Skelton] which were taken into account included the player’s clean record, his relative youthfulness and the good character references supplied on his behalf. This resulted in the sanction being reduced by two weeks.

 

"Mitigating factors [for Latu] included the fact that the player admitted his contravention of the law, his youthfulness and clean disciplinary record and the character references supplied on his behalf.

 

"The two offending players, Skelton and  Latu, were involved in the incident. Latu played a more active role in the lifting and twisting of their opponent, Sam Whitelock, contributing more significantly to the end result than Skelton. Skelton nevertheless also lifted and twisted Whitelock in the tackle, which is why he too was found to have breached the applicable Law.

 

"Given the lesser extent of his involvement however, the sanction in the case of Skelton did not in my view warrant four-weeks. 

 

"He was unaware of the actions of his fellow player, Latu, and although he dropped his opponent after he had lifted and turned him, it appeared that Latu was the player who had continued with the tip tackle causing their opponent to land in the manner in which he ultimately did.

 

Stelzner added that the Waratahs have a significant chance of making a Super Rugby play-off and that will see Latu missing at least one play-off game as his banned sees him miss the next four matches. In Stelzner's opinion this is a "meaningful sanction".

 

Meanwhile, the Waratahs officials and legal representatives who were in attendance and representing the players said they were surprised and disappointed with the outcome of the hearing.

 

"Without going into lengthy detail on the hearing the fact that our legal representatives have recommended that we appeal these decisions speaks for itself," Waratahs CEO Greg Harris said.

 

"We would not be intending to pursue this course of action unless we were of the opinion that both players were entitled to have their situations reconsidered by the appeal committee.

 

"Our intentions are to appeal the decision."

 

The Waratahs CEO also confirmed that Skelton would be travelling with the team to South Africa tomorrow and was optimistic that following the appeal he will be cleared to play.

 

"It is critical to the team, the franchise and our supporters that we leave no stone unturned in our campaign to make the finals," Harris said.

 

Latu's punch thrown at Wyatt Crockett was blatantly ignored by the TMO during the game and seems to have curiously slipped through the cracks by the citing commissioner as well.