SILATOLU LATU APPEAL DISMISSED #SuperRugby
Hearing Details: 28 May 2015 @ 5pm AEST, 7pm NZST, 9am SAST via videoconference
Appeals Committee: Lex Mpati (Chairman), Adam Casselden, Chris Morris
Player: Silatolu Latu
Team: Waratahs
Position: Hooker
Date of Incident: 23 May 2015
Outcome of original SANZAR judicial hearing: At a SANZAR judicial hearing on 25 May 2015, SANZAR Judicial Officer, Robert Stelzner SC, found Silatolu Latu guilty of contravening Law 10.4 (j) Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play.
The player was suspended for four weeks.
A SANZAR Appeals Committee, chaired by Lex Mpati (South Africa) and comprising Adam Casselden (Australia) and Chris Morris (New Zealand) has unanimously dismissed an appeal brought by the Waratahs against the sanction imposed from a judicial hearing that found Silatolu Latu had contravened Law 10.4 (j) – Lifting Tackle.
The Committee dismissed the appeal on the basis that Latu was unable to persuade its opinion that the sanction was manifestly excessive. Latu’s ground of appeal was that the four-week sanction imposed was not fair in all the circumstances.
The Committee was not persuaded by the submissions of counsel for Latu, Bruce Hodgkinson SC, who referred to other decisions for purposes of comparison. Counsel argued that the addition of two weeks to the low-end entry point of four weeks, applied by the Judicial Officer as a deterrent, was not consistent with the approach adopted in some of those decisions.
The Committee determined that the initial four-week sanction was appropriate. As such, the player remains suspended from all forms of the game for four weeks up to and including Saturday 20 June 2015.
No order was made for costs.
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