Former South Africa, Saracens and now Bulls hooker Schalk Brits was involved in an old school punch up with Sharks hooker on the weekend when the Bulls faced the Sharks in Super Rugby action.
The Sharks front rower appears to have instigated the brawl when he bored head first into Brits on the floor in a ruck. It then kicked off.
As you can see from the video above, even once the ball had left the breakdown several punches were exchanged. The referee gave both players their marching orders.
Both players have since faced disciplinary hearings for contravening Law 9.12: ‘A player must not physically abuse anyone. Physical abuse includes, but is not limited to punching or striking with the hand or arm.’
Both players received different hearings:
“With respect to sanction the Foul Play Review Committee deemed the act of foul play merited a mid-range entry point of 6 weeks due to the World Rugby instructions that dictate any incident of foul play involving contact with the head must start at a mid-range level,” their statement read.
“The evidence demonstrated the Player contacted the opposing Player’s head with multiple punches. However, taking into account mitigating factors including the Player’s good judicial record and the fact the Player has pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity, the Foul Play Review Committee reduced the suspension to 3 weeks. The player is therefore suspended for 3 weeks, up to and including 19 April 2019.”
Schalk Brits:
“With respect to sanction the Judicial Committee deemed the act of foul play merited a mid-range entry point of 6 weeks due to the World Rugby instructions that dictate any incident of foul play involving contact with the head must start at a mid-range level. The evidence demonstrated the Player contacted the opposing Player’s head with more than one punch.
“However, taking into account mitigating factors including the Player’s demonstrated remorse, extensive experience, the fact the Player’s actions were in self-defence and the Player has pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity, the Judicial Committee reduced the suspension by 2 weeks.
“The Judicial Committee was conscious of the fact that the Player was not the instigator of the incident, but due to the Player’s previous two periods of suspension for striking offences, the Judicial Committee were unable to provide the full 50% discount for the sanction. This leads to a sanction of 4 weeks.”
So, Akker van Der Merwe ( the instigator ) got 3 weeks. Brits, even though acting in self defence got 4 weeks.
Van Der Merwe pleaded guilty to the charge and received a 50% “good behaviour discount’ so his ban was reduced from 6 weeks to 3.
Why?
Brits would also have received the same reduction on his ban as he too admitted guilt but 2 previous disciplinary issues cost him this ‘discount’.
Brits had a run in back in 2013 with his Saracens teammate Owen Farrell in the Lions warm up match v Barbarians where he was charged with striking and banned for 3 weeks.
He also was charged with striking back in 2016 for striking Gloucester prop Nick Wood, receiving a 3 week ban for the below incident.
So while it may appear not to make sense, it does.
It was great to see that despite the red mist and on-field issues, both players who are vying for a RWC Springboks jersey could enjoy each others company over a beer post-match.
