THE SIX Nations disciplinary panel not only dismissed the citing against Stephen Ferris, clearing him to play for Ireland against France at the Stade de France on Saturday night, but also during the course of the hearing made it clear that they felt the decision to award a penalty, never mind a yellow card, against the Ulster and Ireland flanker, was incorrect.
Ferris was sent to the sin bin by English referee Wayne Barnes following a tackle on Welsh secondrow Ian Evans during last Sunday’s Six Nations Championship match between Ireland and Wales at the Aviva Stadium.
The incident proved the game-defining moment in terms of the outcome as Welsh wing Leigh Halfpenny kicked the resultant penalty to give the visitors a last-minute 23-21 victory.
The independent citing commissioner for that match, Italy’s Achille Reali, decided that the Irish flanker had a case to answer in regard to the tackle. He referred the matter within the stipulated 48-hour window to an independent Six Nations disciplinary committee that met in London yesterday.
The meeting was chaired by England’s Antony Davies together with Douglas Hunter (Scotland) and John Doubleday (England), to consider the citing complaint under law 10.4(j).
A statement read that: “The committee, after careful analysis of the video evidence and consideration of the player’s and his representative’s explanation of the tackle, did not uphold the citing.”
According to a statement released by the IRFU, the independent disciplinary committee further indicated that Barnes’s decision to penalise the player was wrong.
Ireland team manager Mick Kearney, who accompanied Ferris to the hearing in London, explained: “We are obviously delighted that Stephen has been totally exonerated of any wrongdoing by the disciplinary panel and that he is now available for selection this weekend against France.
“While we understand and fully support the stance to stamp out dangerous tackles in the game to make it safe at all levels, the disciplinary panel itself felt that the decision to award a penalty was incorrect and we also felt that it was a fair and legitimate tackle by Stephen.
“He is a hard and fair player and I think that his previous disciplinary record supports why we felt so strongly about his defence. The focus now for Stephen and the rest of the squad is to prepare for the game against France this weekend.”
Barnes’s error of judgement during the match was compounded by Reali’s decision to cite Ferris.
At the same hearing Welsh secondrow Bradley Davies was given a seven-week ban for his reckless tip-tackle on Ireland’s Donnacha Ryan during the same match.
The incident took place off the ball and was seen by English assistant referee Dave Pearson, who drew it to attention of Barnes, but surprisingly recommended a yellow rather than the red card that the action merited.
In a statement the independent disciplinary committee “found that the incident, in which the player lifted his opponent beyond a horizontal position but did not bring him to the ground safely contrary to Law 10.4(j) and the IRB’s particular emphasis on this aspect of the game, merited a top end entry to the IRB’s table of sanctions.”
The committee applied an additional two weeks to the entry point of 10 weeks to reflect the need for a deterrent for this type of foul play but reduced the sanction after taking Davies’s admission of guilt, his previous good disciplinary record and his conduct at the hearing into account.
Davies will miss the rest of this season’s Six Nations but does have the right to appeal the decision. Ryan Jones is expected to take Davies’ number four shirt for Sunday’s game against Scotland in Cardiff.
It was a bad weekend for the English officials Barnes and Pearson and the same can be said for Reali.
Coincidentally, given the events at the Aviva Stadium, Pearson will referee Ireland’s match against France in Paris on Saturday.
The findings of yesterday’s hearings re-emphasise the importance of good communication between match officials, as much for each other’s sake, as well as the good of the sport.
