Wiese found not guilty, but missed test because of Sanzaar bungle

Springbok loose forward Jasper Wiese will miss out on Saturday’s 100th test against the All Blacks mainly because of a administrative bungle by Sanzaar’s judicial committee.

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The Bok loose forward had his case dismissed after being cited for a charge into a ruck in the 78th minute of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship loss against Australia, but despite being cited during the 48 hour period, the fact that the hearing could only take place on Tuesday meant Wiese couldn’t be selected for the match.

Sanzaar confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the citing had been dismissed, which will leave an incredibly bad taste in the mouth of the Springboks ahead of the test.

The administrative bungle meant the Boks had to reshuffle their team, and included Kwagga Smith at blindside flank, where Wiese may well have played if the bungle had not happened.

“Jasper was unavailable for selection as his hearing is only taking place tonight (Tuesday) and that would leave him with just one training session to be with us in preparation for the All Black game and that is not enough,” said Nienaber in the team announcement on Wednesday.

“The Jasper case should have been heard on Monday night. Had that been the case, Jasper could have been considered for selection as he would have had almost a full training week. But for some reason they had to postpone. I am not 100 percent sure why the usual timelines were not met. They were met when there was a similar incident and hearing following the New Zealand/Australia game a few weeks ago.”

NO REASON GIVEN

Sanzaar has offered no explanation for the late hearing, but released a statement saying he was found not guilty by the Judicial Committee.

“A SANZAAR Judicial Committee Hearing has found Jasper Wiese of South Africa not guilty of contravening Law 9.12 after he was cited after a Rugby Championship match at the weekend.

 No further sanction has been imposed on Wiese and he is free to play,” the statement read.

“The incident occurred in the match between Australia and South Africa at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on 18 September 2021. The SANZAAR Judicial Hearing held via video conference on Tuesday 21 September 2021, 8:00pm(NZST), 6:00pm(AEST), 10:00am(SAST), 5:00am(ART) was heard by Michael Heron QC (Chair), Helen Morgan and Chris Smith.

In his finding, the Judicial Committee Chair Michael Heron QC ruled the following:

"Having conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all camera angles and additional evidence, including from the player, a medical report on the opposition player involved, and having considered the submissions from his legal representative, Attie Heyns, the Judicial Committee found that the Player had not committed an act of foul play worthy of the red card threshold.

“The Judicial Committee reviewed the case in accordance with Reg 17.16.1 of World Rugby’s regulations and the World Rugby Head Contact Process.  

'NOT INTENTIONAL OR RECKLESS'

“The evidence and submissions on behalf of the player, together with surrounding circumstances, satisfied the Committee that the Citing Commissioner was not correct to find there was a high degree of danger involved.  Whilst the Australian player was vulnerable, the contact with the head was not intentional or highly reckless. Weise was shown to be grabbing for the ball rather than targeting the head of the Australian player.

"The low force, modest speed, indirect contact and the turning motion used by Weise, meant that the situation was not a highly dangerous one (when compared to the World Rugby examples). The Australian player was completely uninjured and his statement suggested the contact looked more serious than it was. There was no adverse reaction by any of the players to the conduct.  The referee was in a very good position to see the actions of Wiese.  

“For those reasons, the Committee was satisfied that the Referee (with the assistance of the TMO) was correct to award a yellow card in the circumstances.  The Committee reinforced that the Citing Commissioner was otherwise correct to find that this was foul play, and at least warranted a yellow card in the circumstances.

"Mr Wiese is therefore free to play in the upcoming matches.”

SA TEAM

Springboks:Willie le Roux; S’bu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi; Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk; Duane Vermeulen, Kwagga Smith, Siya Kolisi (captain), Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Trevor Nyakane.

Replacements:Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Franco Mostert, Marco van Staden, Herschel Jantjies, Elton Jantjies, Frans Steyn.

How to watch:

Kick-off is 9:05am CAT (GMT+2) on Saturday, on SuperSport Rugby and Grandstand channels