BRUMBIES hooker Folau Fainga’a has been suspended for a week by the SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee.
The Committee accepted a guilty plea from Fainga’a for contravening Law 9.12: striking with head, after he was red carded during the Brumbies match against the Bulls last the Weekend.
Fainga’a has been suspended from all forms of the game until June 1.
The head butt against Mattys Bason happened in the 61st minute of the match.
The SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee of Nigel Hampton QC (Chairman), Stefan Terblanche and John Langford assessed the case.
The committee ruled the act of foul play merited a low end entry point of four weeks, given some degree of provocation before the incident and the relative lack of force in the contact between the two players.
“Taking into account mitigating factors including the player’s excellent judicial record, his youth and inexperience and his pleading guilty at the first available opportunity, the Foul Play Review Committee reduced the suspension to two weeks” a SANZAR statement said.
“In addition, given the player’s good character and the fact that, in the Committee’s view, two weeks was a wholly disproportionate sanction for an offence that only related to comparatively minor contact, the sanction was further reduced by an extra week.”
