Clermont Backrow Receives Lenghty Ban For Pushing Referee Wayne Barnes
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Clermont backrow Viktor Kolelishvili has been suspended for 14 weeks for pushing referee Wayne Barnes during his side’s Champions Cup loss to Ospreys last Friday night.
Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty against the Georgian at the time and he was subsequently cited yesterday for the incident.
In upholding the citing complaint, the Judicial Officer found that Kolelishvili had committed an act of foul play that warranted a red card. He determined that the offence was at the low end of World Rugby’s sanctions and selected 24 weeks as the appropriate entry point.
He added two weeks due to the player’s poor disciplinary record before reducing the sanction by half of the entry point taking into account Kolelishvili’s immediate apology to the referee, his subsequent remorse, guilty plea and good conduct at the hearing. He then imposed a suspension of 14 weeks.
