hurricanes lose savea until end of march after ban,,,

Hurricanes openside flanker Ardie Savea has been suspended for four weeks following a judicial hearing but he will be out of Super Rugby until the end of March.

Savea was cited under law 10.4 (j) for a lifting tackle on Chiefs halfback Augustine Pulu in the 78th minute of the Hurricanes v Chiefs pre-season match at Mangatainoka on Saturday. The Chiefs won 25 - 21.

Judicial Officer Nigel Hampton QC said the tackle was clumsy with elements of recklessness.

Savea's poor technique contributed to the dangerous nature of the tackle as he lost control, posing potential risk of injury to Pulu's neck or head.

Mr Hampton said Savea was a young player with a clean disciplinary record.

"The player has acknowledged the tackle was poorly executed and I have considered his early admission of fault as being in his favour," Mr Hampton said.

"I deem the tackle to be in the mid-range of seriousness. Taking into account all the mitigating factors, and this young man's impressive character and conduct through this process, I have decided a sanction of no less than four weeks is appropriate," he said.

Savea is suspended from all forms of rugby up to and including Saturday 16 March 2013.

He is unavailable for the Hurricanes' matches against the Blues in Wellington this Saturday, the Reds in Brisbane on 1 March, the Crusaders in Wellington on 8 March, and the Highlanders in Dunedin on 15 March.

Savea will be eligible to play from Sunday 17 March and the Hurricanes have a bye on the 24th of March so Savea can only return to Super Rugby on the 30th of March when they play the Southern Kings.

Silly boy...Was expecting big things from this kid and to see him play. Will have to wait even longer now. Thats if he even gets back into the team. A lot can happen in 1 month! Someone else can play themselves in.

Why in the 78th min though. Was it really necessary in a friendly game that means very little in the greater scheme of things? Oh well. U live u learn!! Bet you he would rather fork out $10k than miss four games...Money means nothing when u playing for a spot!

i was surprised at the length of the ban TBH, but spear tackles cant be taken lightly and hopefully this sends out a meessage to everyone about the seriousness of spear tackles.

what i dont want to see is another farce of an incident where otehr players are not serverly punished as well.
f hougaard did a spear tackle similar to ardie saveas tackle last year during the spXV and he recived a 0ne week ban. the following week digby did an almost mirror like tackle and he was suspended for 5 weeks.
consitstency is the key, so if they make ardies example the line, then i hope they keep that standard up.

Sasue

I think you are right about the length of the ban - but then this is really a timely reminder not to play dangerous play that could impact seriously on the team performance - a red card is indeed a problem in any game.

Maybe it should also teach Savea not to learn from spear tackle operations from Retallick - who only collected a yellow card for his one.   Maybe Savea was influenced by Retallick and now realize that consequences can be worse than expecte.    LOL