England prop Kyle Sinckler is set to miss the Six Nation’s opening game against Scotland due to poor discipline and the way he spoke to referee Karl Dickson.
The English forward seemed to be victim of a very dangerous tackle from Luke Cowan-Dickie, the referee immediately stated that he thought Cowan-Dickie had wrapped in his tackle to which Kyle replied with “Are you ******* serious?”.
This reply didn’t go down well with referee Karl Dickson as he gave Sinckler a telling off on the pitch but no further action was taken at the time.
Really poor form by Kyle Sinckler screaming “Are you Fu**ing serious” at referee Karl Dickson. They are ex teammates but it should have been a yellow card. We berate footballers for similar so we don’t want this in rugby and should respect the ref! pic.twitter.com/m4zWaIwIGV
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) January 9, 2021
Pictures courtesy of BT Sport
Sky Sports report that an independent panel reviewed the actions of Sinckler and submitted their findings today.
“While Kyle Sinckler accepted that he used foul language at the referee, he did not accept the conduct warranted a red card,”
“The panel viewed the live recordings of the incident and were satisfied that his shout of ‘are you f****** serious’ was aggressive and directed at the referee.”
“The player was candid in his evidence as to why he had done so and regretted his actions,” the panel said.
“The panel found that as his actions disrespected the authority of the referee it was in breach of a core value of rugby – respect of match officials – and warranted a red card.
“The panel determined that in all the circumstances it was a low entry point with no relevant mitigation. The sanction is a two-week ban.”
The disciplinary panel are trying to uphold the core fundamentals of the game and set a good example for young players. The respect of officials is a must and this warranted a red card according to them.
Do you agree with the panel?