Jerome Schuster decision

... as a result of a citing arising from the Heineken Cup Pool 1 Round 4 match against Munster at Stade Aime Giral, on Sunday, 20 December, 2009.

The hearing was originally due to be heard in Heathrow on Wednesday, 13 January, 2010, but was postponed due to weather related travel problems.

The citing lodged by the Citing Commissioner for the match, Alan Mansell (England), was for an alleged strike with his head of Munster player Denis Leamy (No 8) in contravention of Law 10.4 (a).

After considering the evidence, the independent Judicial Officer, Professor Lorne Crerar (Scotland), determined that Jerome Schuster was guilty of foul play in contravention of Law 10.4 (a) in that he struck Mr Leamy with his head.

The Judicial Officer found that the offence was in the low range in the level of seriousness for an offence of this type. Having taken into account any mitigating and aggravating factors, including Mr Schuster's clean record, the independent Judicial Officer suspended the player for a period of 2 weeks running up to and including Monday, 1 February, 2010.

Both parties have the right to appeal.

Under the IRB Recommended Sanctions for Offences Committed within the Playing Enclosure, striking with the head carries the following penalties:
Lower End: 4 weeks
Middle Range: 8 weeks
Top End: 12 weeks+
Maximum Sanction: 104 weeks

For a full list of IRB Recommended Sanctions please refer to ercrugby.com by pressing the following link:
http://www.ercrugby.com/images/content/cupstandard/IRB_Sanctions.pdf

NOTES
i) Citing Commissioner
a) Citing Commissioners will be appointed by ERC for all Heineken Cup and all televised Amlin Challenge Cup matches and shall be entitled to cite a Player for any act or acts of Foul Play that in the Citing Commissioner's opinion warranted a citing.
b) For such matches Clubs will not have the power to cite a player but may refer incidents to the Citing Commissioner within 24 hours of the conclusion of the match.
c) The Citing Commissioner will have 50 hours from the start of the game to make a citing and the determination of the Citing Commissioner will be final and binding. In exceptional circumstances this deadline can be extended.
d) The Disciplinary Officer may forward the submitted Citing to a Citing Officer to determine whether there are sufficient grounds for the citing to progress.
e) The Disciplinary Officer will then bring a charge against the cited player.

(ii) Independent Disciplinary Hearing
a) Citing hearings will be heard by an independent Judicial Officer as soon as is practicable. Until the hearing a cited player is eligible to play in ERC tournaments
b) The independent Judicial Officer is chosen by the Chairman of the independent Disciplinary Panel, Professor Lorne Crerar.
c) The ERC Disciplinary Officer, Roger O'Connor, presents the case against the player
d) Both parties to the hearing (ERC and the player) have the right to appeal decisions of the independent Disciplinary Hearing. Appeals must be lodged within 72 hours of receiving the full written decision from the Chairman of the independent Disciplinary Committee
e) The full written decision of the independent Judicial Officer will be available on www.ercrugby.com/disciplinenews when the disciplinary process is complete