Looks like Dan Sheehan's a bit too enthusiastic with his rugby 'hugs'! The British & Irish Lions hooker is benched for the first whistle of Leinster’s season, thanks to a four-match suspension. Why? A too-hot-to-handle cleanout in his last Test against Australia. Talk about leaving a mark (and not the good kind).
During what turned out to be a rather fiery encounter in Sydney, Sheehan decided to introduce his elbow first during a ruck, making some rather unwelcome contact with an Aussie’s noggin. Safe to say, the disciplinary panel wasn’t amused. They slapped him with a finding of “dangerous and reckless foul play,” pointing out the high danger level of his ruck entry — and didn’t find any reasons to cut him slack.
"Sheehan was cited for charging into a ruck pursuant to Law 9.20(a) during the British and Irish Lions test match against Australia in the Accor Stadium in Sydney on Saturday 2 August,"
The World Rugby folks dug through the footage and Sheehan’s own defense, but ended up confirming that his ruck-charge was a definite no-go under Law 9.20(a). And despite Sheehan not agreeing with the citation, the committee was having none of it.
The timing’s rough. His suspension kicks off with a friendly against Cardiff, but more painfully, it yanks him out of the lineup for some juicy URC match-ups: think the season opener in Cape Town against the Stormers, a gritty face-off with the Sharks in Durban, and an all-Irish dustup with Munster. Fans marking their calendars for these clashes will be Sheehan-less, at least initially.
However, not all hope is lost for Sheehan. There’s a lifeline in the form of the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme. If he can show that he’s learned a thing or two about safer play, he might just make it back for the Munster game at Croke Park.
So, as Leinster preps for the season’s start, they’ll be down a fiery hooker who perhaps loves a bit too much elbow action. Meanwhile, Sheehan will be hitting the books — or rather, the coaching sessions — hoping to scrub off a game from his time-out and return to the fray sooner rather than later.