Two New Zealand props have been suspended following stamping and raking incidents in the ITM Cup fourth round match between Southland and Waikato in Invercargill. Ben Tameifuna and Jamie Mackintosh have both been suspended for one week.
Judicial hearings took place for separate incidents after Tameifuna trod all over Mackintosh, then later in the game the big Southland captain rucked the back of replament Sam Christie.
In the first of the two incidents, Waikato giant Tameifuna saw Mackintosh on the floor and in an attempt to clear him out, he jumped on his legs, which in the view of judicial office Chris Morris was ‘reckless but not intentional’. He stated that ‘more care was needed in future’.
As for Mackintosh, he got his own back a little later in the match, although it was on a replacement back who had fallen on the wrong side of a tackle and was blocking quick ball.
The Southland skipper’s rucking was lauded by the old school commentators, with former Otago flank and captain Kelvin Middleton saying that Christie got what he deserved.
The referee let it go and actually warned Waikato for slowing the ball down, but the citing officers disagreed, and Mackintosh was cited for stamping, a breach a breach of law 10.4(b).
Morris said that the stamping was forceful rucking and that the number of times the boot had made contact with Christie’s back had put it into a more serious category. He did however say that it was at the low end of the offence, and a one week suspension was appropriate.
Mackintosh, who funnily enough went off with a foot injury, voiced his disappointment on Twitter.
“Watch out everybody if u ruck someone who lies on the ball it’s a week suspension,” he said.
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