The Vodacom Bulls were dealt a massive setback when Springbok flyhalf Morne Steyn was handed a three-match ban by a disciplinary panel of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
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Steyn, who was red-carded in the Bulls' loss to the Cell C Sharks at Loftus in the round 12 fixture, finally received his outcome after appearing in the disciplinary hearing last Thursday.
And while the news was always going to be touch and go if he could tour with the Bulls to Italy ahead of Friday night’s URC clash with Italian side Zebre, the bad news for the Bulls is that he misses the game against Munster at Loftus Versfeld when the team returns home as well.
With Johan Goosen still on the mend after a knee injury, it leaves the Bulls very thin for the next few weeks at 10, and they will miss Steyn’s boot immensely as well as the experience he brings to the squad.
More than that, it places more pressure on them to get themselves back on the winning path after home losses to the Sharks and DHL Stormers and a real concern that they need to break their overseas duck.
While setbacks are part and parcel of any season, the Bulls will rue Steyn’s red card, which serves as a reminder of how strict disciplinary panels are on head-high tackles, even though most will argue that the sentence was harsh given the tackle involved.
“A Disciplinary Committee met on Thursday, 17 February 2022 to consider the Red Card shown to Morné Steyn (No 10) of the Vodacom Bulls in their match against the Cell C Sharks on Saturday, 12 February 2022,” the disciplinary statement from URC said on Monday.
“The incident occurred in the 11th minute of the United Rugby Championship Round 12 fixture at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
“The Player received a red card for a contravention of Law 9.13 – A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.
“The Disciplinary Panel of Jennifer Donovan (Chair, Ireland), Rose Alice Murphy (Ireland) and Tony Wheat (Ireland) considered all the evidence available and concluded that the referee’s decision to issue the red card was correct and so upheld the red card.”
As with Grant Williams’s four-week ban for a red card in the same game, there was some mitigating circumstances, but the overall decision was still a harsh one for Bulls fans.
“The panel carefully considered the evidence and found that there was a high degree of danger, that the action was at speed with contact made to the neck and jaw area, with insufficient mitigation to reduce the level of sanction.
“The Panel determined that the entry point be mid-range which carried a suspension of six (6) weeks. The Player did accept that he had committed an act of foul play but did not accept that it warranted a red card.
“The Panel considered the Player’s previous good record and admittance to a late and high tackle, and determined that it would reduce the sanction by three (3) weeks. As a result, the Player has been banned for a period of three (3) weeks. The Player can return to play from Sunday, 13 March.
“This ban will include two games in the United Rugby Championship and one game in the Carling Currie Cup.”
Fixtures Steyn is unavailable for:
VURC: Zebre Parma v Vodacom Bulls (Friday, 25 February)
Carling Currie Cup: Tafel Lager Griquas v Vodacom Bulls (Saturday, 5 March)
VURC: Vodacom Bulls v Munster (Saturday, 12 March)
Steyn will be available for selection when the Bulls take on the Sharks in the Carling Currie Cup on Wednesday, 16 March, and for the Vodacom URC fixture against Scarlets on 19 March.