Boks' Burger ban reduced
Burger is regarded as one of the world's best loose forwards
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Thursday, 13, Sep 2007 11:09
South Africa flanker Schalk Burger's four-match ban for a dangerous tackle has been reduced by two games.
The talented 24-year-old, who is one of the Springboks' lynchpin players, will still be unavailable for the pool A match against England on Friday.
But instead of missing the entire group stage and the quarter-final, Burger will now be eligible to return for the team's final pool match against the USA.
The incident in question involved a dangerous tackle on Samoan scrum-half Junior Polu during the 56-10 win for the South Africans in Paris last Sunday.
Although he escaped action at the time from match referee Paul Honiss, the citing commissioner Douglas Hunter referred the incident to the tournament's disciplinary committee.
In their original decision, the panel said: "The player pleaded not guilty and alleged that contact occurred between the two players as he attempted to win possession.
"However, the judicial officer determined that Burger executed a reckless and sloppy tackle that was high and dangerous whilst the opposing player was in the air and therefore in a vulnerable position."
The panel also said the offence was of "mid-range seriousness" and warranted the ban imposed.
But during the appeal hearing, the committee admitted that "the judicial officer (JO) had made an error in his first instance decision, in that he was wrong to find that the player was not at any time during the incident intending to win the ball".
"On the basis of the video evidence and the transcript of the initial JO hearing the appeal committee decided that the player was attempting to win the ball for a significant part of the time involved," the appeals panel stated.
"However, the committee found that the player ultimately realised that he was not going to catch the ball and instinctively adjusted his approach to tackle the opposing player.
"The committee concluded that the tackle was a dangerous tackle but noted that the arm of Mr Burger was withdrawn following contact with the opposing player."
In handing down their appeal decision, the committee stated that the offence should be re-categorised as a "lower level entry offence rather than a mid range offence", which carries a recommended suspension of two matches.
The England against South Africa clash tomorrow is a crucial one for both sides in the pool stage.
Defeat for either team would most likely result in the losers facing a quarter-final against Australia – one of the favourites for the Webb-Ellis Trophy and the second-best team in the world according to the IRB rankings.
The winners of Friday's clash, provided they win the remainder of their matches against the lesser lights, would be rewarded with a probable quarter-final against Wales or Fiji.