Bundee Aki’s World Cup is over after receiving three-week ban

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Bundee Aki’s participation in the Rugby World Cup is over after receiving a three-week ban from World Rugby following his red card against Samoa last Saturday.

Ireland sought to overturn any potential ban but their efforts proved unsuccessful as World Rugby upheld the red card decision and applied the appropriate sanction.

World Rugby released a statement outlining their decision after a hearing in Tokyo with Aki and representatives from the IRFU.

The statement reads: “Ireland centre Bundee Aki attended a disciplinary hearing on 14 October having received a red card from referee Nic Berry for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.13 (dangerous tackle) in Ireland’s Rugby World Cup 2019 Pool A match against Samoa on 12 October.

“The independent Judicial Committee was chaired by Adam Casselden SC (Australia) joined by former international coach Frank Hadden (Scotland) and former referee Valeriu Toma (Romania).

“The player sought to overturn the red card. Having considered all the angles of the incident, together with evidence from the player and his representatives, the committee upheld the decision of the referee.”

Providing the basis for their decision, the committee noted the following observations in their statement:

  • There was direct contact of the player’s left shoulder to the ball carrier’s head
  • The Judicial Committee did not accept that there was a low degree of danger
  • Although the tackle occurred quickly, the player’s tackle height was high and it was accepted he did not make a definite attempt to change his height in order to avoid the ball carrier’s head
  • The committee did not accept that there was sufficient evidence of a sudden drop in the ball carrier‘s height
  • The tackle was an attempted dominant tackle, rather than a reactionary tackle, and in any event there was no immediate release as the player wrapped his arms around the Samoa No.10
  • The player was in open space and had a clear line of sight before the contact
  • There are accordingly no clear and obvious mitigating factors

    • The statement goes on to say, “Therefore, on the balance of probabilities, the committee did not find that the referee’s decision was wrong and the red card was upheld.”

    Although a ban of up to six weeks can be applied in such circumstances, the committee reduced the ban to three weeks (equating to three Rugby World Cup matches) citing “the player’s good disciplinary record”.

    The ban ends Aki’s participation in the Rugby World Cup, with Joe Schmidt unable to call up a replacement player for the remainder of the tournament.

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