Juandre Kruger, the Northampton Saints lock (No 5), appeared at an independent Disciplinary Hearing in Dublin as a result of a citing arising from the Heineken Cup Round 2 match against Perpignan at Stade Aime Giral on Friday, 16 October, 2009.
The citing lodged by the Citing Commissioner for the match, Murray Whyte (Ireland), was for alleged stamping on Perpignan player Nicolas Durand (No 9) in contravention of Law 10.4 (b).
After considering the evidence, the independent Judicial Officer, Rod McKenzie (Scotland), determined that Juandre Kruger was guilty of stamping in contravention of Law 10.4 (b) in that he had stamped on Nicolas Durand.
The Judicial Officer found that it was in the mid-range in the level of seriousness for an offence of stamping. Having taken into account any mitigating and aggravating factors the independent Judicial Officer suspended the player for a period of three (3) weeks running up to and including Sunday, 8 November, 2009.
Under IRB Regulation 17 and the ERC Heineken Cup Disciplinary Rules, the recommended sanction entry point for a mid-range offence of stamping is five weeks.
Both parties have the right to appeal.
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. 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 Judicial Officer.
e) The full written decision of the independent Judicial Officer will be available on
www.ercrugby.com/disciplinenews when the disciplinary process is complete
