Nine-week ban for Puma biter

 Thu, 29 Aug 2013 15:43

A SANZAR judicial officer has found Pumas No.8 Leonardo Senatore guilty of biting Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth and suspended him for nine weeks.

The incident occurred in the 61st minute of the match between Argentina and South Africa at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza.

The SANZAR judicial hearing was held before judicial officer Terry Willis via video conference with the assistance of former professional player Paul Thomson from New Zealand.

After hearing the evidence of Dr Andrea Boon on behalf of the player, the South African team doctor Craig Roberts, the referee Steve Walsh, together with UAR board member Agustin Pichot and Senatore himself, the judicial officer was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that biting took place to the forearm of Etzebeth such as to constitute a breach of the laws of the game of rugby. Accordingly, the citing complaint was proven.

The judicial officer heard that Senatore had an unblemished record having played 19 Tests for Argentina.
After considering the significant provocation caused by the actions of Etzebeth making contact to the head of Senatore, the level of offending was determined as low end.

In the absence of any aggravating features and significant mitigating factors, it was determined that a seven match suspension was appropriate in the circumstances. Bearing in mind the player's playing schedule, he will miss four Test matches in the Rugby Championship and three games for Worcester Warriors.

Accordingly the player was suspended for nine weeks up to and including 27 October.

 Well there it is a nine week ban for biting. I think they should have banned him longer but they factored in the lack of video evidence, etc. You can't be too tough on this IMO it's bad enough in itself but it is also bad for our sport.

i agree it should have been longer.

what i dont get is that they know that lady elizabeths choke tackle was wrong saying thats what provoked the thuggish reaction, but nothing gets done about that??? o_O hmmm pretty strange IMO.

if lady elizabteh was an All Blacks, there would be a loud song and dance like those african dudes when they go on strike and throw regular twerking parties.

i also think that senorate has been reading to many All Black recipies, hes heard how tasty Boks are as the All Blacks feast on them on a regular basis, :oP

 Come now Sas. Nonu was wearing All Black, shoulder charges the head of the runner, puts the man down for treatment and gets off scot free !!! :)

@oimatey,
 
ive siad since day on that nonu should have been punished, as should james slipper for doing the exact same thing to woodcock, an offence which is less significant for what IMO is him wearing the right colour jersey again???
also when reviewing peypers performance, i got to carefully watch many many times the hit from nonu and there was no contact with the head, it was shoulder on shoulder. there are two camera angles, one with nonus front showing and the other with slippers front showing, the one with slippers front showing u can see the shoulders collide and no contact with the head made.
 
not making any excuses for nonu, just saying that if lady elizabeth who the judicial officer admitted made an illegal neck contact was an All Black and james slipper too for that matter, u would see more outrage from the majority here.
 
if u dont believe me, just take a look at all the comments regarding lady elizabeths neck tackle and slippers and nonus armless tackles on all aussie and saffa forums, as a regular here, u already know its the case over here.
 
but its all good, All Blacks dont have much else in their game which people can legitimately criticize, so the one or two things All Blacks do wrong like nonus shoulder hit should be pounced on like ones life depends on it, after all those opportunities are very far and few in between.

Tough luck on Leo Senatore. Not because of the ban -- it is fair and even he will have no complaints about it.

We did not discuss the incident but he did mention he just lost his cool when Eben was holding him like that. Not justified, but sometimes we just lose it. Leo's a VERY calm guy so it was quite surprising.

Mike

I made the squad. :)

 Well my views on biting have  been stated.

As for Etzebeth, he is evolving into one of those players that can be seen as a hard man or a dirty player (Bakkies type).  i have the feeling he will be at the centre of a few more such incidents.

You poor dears, doing your best to justify the filthy play from Senatore.

Sorry boys ... it just doesn't wash.

Things get rough on the field but not to the point where a bite is justified.

They should ban the arsehole permanently.

What happens the next time someone roughs the baby up? Is he going to stick his thumb in the eye, grab him by the nuts, draw blood with a bite?? Just cause someone was a little rough with him?

He should think about taking up a different sport, like bowls, cause this one's clearly too physical for the chump. .

.

It's Friday, today we clean the plant and take stock and order next weeks shit.

Dogs bite - That is what they are there for.  Sometimes a horse bites the rider, for those who know horses you know what we do with a horse that bites.  If he does not stop he becomes dog-food.

Leo made a silly mistake and has to pay the penalty and hopefully he will learn from it.

Eben is no angel that is a fact, but show me one serious rugby player that is.  eben does have a tendancy to retaliate and that will still get him in that deep brown stuff which is not mud.

Look at the footage and see his arm around the Argie's throat - not reason to bite but look further, after Eben gets up and the Argie is still sitting Eben slaps him on the head.  That action could have backfired.

He pushes his head ... it's not a slap ...  he responded like that after he was bitten by this dog ...

The dog should be gratefull he didn't lay in with the boot ...

Ehê, Brother Clean, a push (not hard enough) - but the officials do not see it like we do.  In rugby mostly the reactor is more severly punished than the trangressor.  I agree, if a guy bites me he will het a kick in da mouth, but the name of the "game" is restrain.. Eben is making himself a target and the opposition will niggle him time and again and that places him in a difficult position..

Yep. you could argue he was being choked and opened his mouth for air only to find Elizabeth in his mouth. Lucky for Elizabeth it was'nt another part of his anatomy lol.

Brother Bueno will tell you that Elizabeth is a Saint, No history of dirty play whatsoever... ?

He clearly intimidates the kiwis. I can already see these poor wimpy kiwis looking for a reason to have him seen as a Bakkies type.

The kiwis and the ozzies are the same ... can't take the physical stuff without crying foul. 

Can't say I blame them ... Eben's gonna bullie their wimpy locks for many a season ...

i said it in the first thread about the biting incident, but i thought lady elizabeth was very restrained after getting bitten by senotare, i was impressed at his ability to keep his composure, cos we all saw him attempt a headbutt and get suspended for a hell of a lot less then a bite.
that level of composure considering how tight the game was, is the type of discipline that all coaches love. and its also where senotare failed, cos now hes out for 9 weeks.
 
and a shove on the head is all that was, not a slap, u would have to be a very uptight match official to punish lady elizabeth for that, though it wouldnt be the craziest ruling ive seen in rugby.
 
what cant be denied is that lady elizabeth grabbed senotare around the neck which is dangerous, i dont think it was intentional, like retallicks spear tackle it was reckless but both lady elizabeth and retallicks incident were worthy of a look.
 
and i love the kiwis are scared of lady elizabeth comments, i would just refer u to the sowetto test where u can clearly see lady elzabeth run onto the field and then go missing for the entire 50+ minutes he was on the paddock.
unimpressive performances like that is why meyer couldnt wait to get him of the filed, LMAO, :oP

Ha ha Cleancut, good one mate, can't take the physical stuff - history does not support that statement, lol

Anyway, it is about winning the game (hence my id Just_win) it is not about individual niggles. Etzebeth is a young guy that is still learning & can be exploited by whitelock and co. It will be an interesting development to watch but in terms of an overall game it is a side show, lol

clevermike:

I beleive he is a young talent that could turn into a really good international. But the coaches need to make sure he develops his game and his temperament. IMO top forwards are alway playing on the edge of their aggression & can have a brain implossion at anytime. So, Etzebeth like all good players has to manage his aggression or he will be exploited by the experienced players and hurt his team.

He's managing his aggression just fine ... thanks.

Roughing up his opponents legally comes natural to him. He has no need of dirty play.

Whitelock and whomever else you guys chalk up as his partner are no match for Etzebeth. You know it as well as I that's why your already tryng to look for excuses to have some kinda stigma attached to him.

Your boys don't have what it takes to exploit anyone as much as you rate them, they too are new to the scene and have much to learn.

@cleancut,

"Whitelock and whomever else you guys chalk up as his partner are no match for Etzebeth. You know it as well as I that's why your already tryng to look for excuses to have some kinda stigma attached to him."
u obviously havent wathced the 2nd All Blacks/Bok test in sowetto last year.