Rugby player banned for 45 weeks for 'sledgehammer' tackle
A Marlborough club rugby player in New Zealand has incurred a hefty 45-week suspension for a tackle which left its recipient with life-threatening injuries.
After a three-and-a-half-hour Tasman Rugby Union judicial committee hearing on Thursday, Osa Seuea was served with the ban - one of the longest ever imposed by the Union.
The ban was for a tackle performed in a division two game on May 2 between Seuseu's Central team and Harlequins at Lansdowne Park in Blenheim. The tackle was an illegal shoulder charge to the mid-section of Harlequins five-eighth Jordy Taylor. The hit came as the playmaker's mid-section was exposed as he reached for a high pass.
Seuea struck Taylor under the ribs with a charge doctors likened to being "hit by a sledgehammer".
Taylor suffered three broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and had a kidney almost split in half. While in hospital Taylor suffered a collapsed lung and contracted pneumonia. He has been advised by his doctor not to play rugby again.
The TRU judicial committee, consisting of Luke Radich, Mark Brown and Brent Marshall, concluded that Seuea's shoulder charge was at the top end of offending and that his actions were "wholly intentional" and "carried out with an intent to injure".
They also considered Taylor's injuries when making their decision, as well as the need for the punishment to act as a deterrent to similar tackles in the future.
The maximum ban for the offence was 52 weeks, but the committee decided on the 45 calendar-week stand-down after considering Seuea's clean disciplinary record.
http://www.watoday.com.au/rugby-unio...11-ghm4ze.html
