CIAN HEALY IS in the clear to line out for Leinster in their Champions Cup opener against Racing 92 this weekend.
The Ireland international prop was sent off after 20 minutes of last Saturday’s URC victory over Ulster for a tackle on hooker Tom Stewart which left both bloodied by the head-on-head contact.
Healy did lower his height for the tackle and a URC disciplinary panel has ruled there was sufficient mitigation to lower Healy’s penalty to a yellow card offence.
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A URC statement read: “After an act of foul play against Ulster player No 2 (Tom Stewart), referee Christophe Ridley showed the player a red card in the 20th minute of the game under Law 9.13 – A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.
“Upon review of the incident, the panel overseeing the disciplinary process – Robert Milligan KC (Chair, Scotland), Nigel Williams (Wales), Simon Thomas (Wales) – deemed that there was sufficient mitigating factors to reduce the red card to a yellow card. Therefore, the red card was not upheld and the player can return to play effective immediately.”
…well common sense prevails..thank God for that!!
@Michael Murray:
Sorry look back on it Healy. Healy is not a dirty player but his tackle technique is way too high. He has a good record and that should stand to him.
There was no soaking the tackle and no change of direction. Sorry but this was a red all day and this decision is a fudge.
This is about player welfare and they are saying the ref team got it wrong. They didn’t.
But yet Stewart is unlikely to be available this weekend due to a head injury, as is Cooney.
@Peter Dickson: leinster fan, love Healy but very surprised by that decision
@Peter Dickson: I’m sorry but as unfortunate as that is it is irrelevant.
If Ringrose was missing this weekend for a head injury would you agree that Hume should have been upgraded to red and received a ban?
@Tom McGirr: force is a factor in the refs decision, clearly the force used in the tackle by Healy was enough to cause significant head trauma.
@Peter Dickson: ….and the ‘dogs b0!!0x ‘ in all this is that we have a Law in rugby that allows a player to enter a collision situation with impunity for the sole reason that he is carrying the ball.
@Peter Dickson: Force on the head isn’t solely because of Healy, it also depends on how much force Stewart hits Healy. Healy absorbed the tackle which is the mitigation. If I recall correctly, Porter was in a similar situation this year and got a yellow (think it was Wayne Barnes in one of the NZ matches). Common sense prevailed here.
@Michael Murray: John Cooney might agree with that.
@Peter Dickson: and yet , neither the referee or TMO on the night , or the match citing commissioner agrees with your assertions. Maybe thats because Lowe’s actions were not deemed by any of them to be foul play
@Peter Dickson: Healy has received red cards in the past and deserved them. I didn’t think it warranted a red. It is rugby, so power is always an influence with any contact between players. I truly feel sorry for Stewart as he has great potential and this was really unfortunate. Hopefully all players learn to tackle lower to protect each other.
@Con Cussed: I am glad that Healy will now be available to play at the weekend especially as Leinster are short of props. It would also have been unfair to cite Lowe in the week of a big match.
@Con Cussed: how many red cards has he received in the past? His disciplinary record might surprise you.
@Con Cussed: Healy has had one red card in his professional career and five yellows. Frankly after 136 club caps and 83 International caps, he’s a Saint. What you may be referring to is when he raked an English player in the ruck of a six nations and was cited and banned. But as far as red cards go. He’s totaled one.
@Niall Mulligan: Healy has way more club and country caps than you’ve stated. Over 250 Leinster and over 120 Irish caps. So, his record is even more exemplary with that tally
@Michael Murray: ….how dumb is that?
@Niall Mulligan: Yeah, you are correct above. That’s what made me think he had more reds. Thanks for the good feedback :0)
A positive for the red card is that Leinster played the situation really well with 14 players. That can only be good preparation for the Champions Cup.
It’s very confusing, he’s a great lad so was disappointed for him, but it seemed a certain red.
Apparently there was mitigation that the TMO/REF and Assistants missed, mitigation the URC could not disclose in their Disciplinary Announcement for some reason…
@Sea-point Point: I haven’t had a chance to rewatch or review the RC decisions, but I do think that before HCup games, or 6 nations etc that the URC does find away not to ban or to be lenient on players esp in inter pros, so they are free to play big games or a lenient ban ends just before the big games. Last year before Munster HCup games Zebo got a red card overturned, and the disciplinary committee said Crowley should have got the red card, but time had expired to cite him so both players free to play. I just remember these against Ulster, Im sure others can think of other examples. Wonder would it have been overturned if it was the first game of the season?
@Kingshu: very astute point….. I think the other jurisdictions do likewise…. The French definitely lose some camera angles along the way too.
Said at the time that there was mitigation to reduce to yellow card. Healy low body position, ball carrier going low just before impact, Healy not pushing forward into the tackle. That’s mitigation much like it was for Humes yellow.