Hefty suspension: Nick De Luca
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Edinburgh centre Nick De Luca has been slapped with a 13-week ban after being found guilty of a tip tackle in last week's clash with the Ospreys.
The Scotland international was handed a red card for the dangerous tackle on Ospreys scrum-half Tom Grabham in contravention of Law 10.4(j), in the PRO12 fixture in Swansea on Friday 22 February.
On Wednesday an independent Pro12 disciplinary committee considered the incident to be at the top end level for this type of offence, which has a range of suspensions from 12 to 52 weeks.
Having taken into account aggravating and mitigating factors, the committee decided that a suspension of 13 weeks was appropriate. T
The suspension concludes on Sunday 26 May. The player has a right of appeal.
De Luca was playing for the second time following his return from surgery on a fractured eye socket suffered in training in January, an injury which had meant he was expected to miss the Six Nations.
Comments
Pearcewreck says...
13 weeks!!!!!!
What a joke.
Our sport is a soft a soccer!!
The IRB truly have no idea.
Here in Oz not a single person I spoke to thought Sam Warburton should have been sent off in RWC 11.
This is embarrasing.
Posted 12:43 28th February 2013
rustytrumpet says...
It was a bad tackle. if you look at it in slow motion he picks the player up, tips him and drives him down.
That being said I think the bans the citing commision hand out are far from consistant
Posted 12:15 28th February 2013
crunchfit says...
Ridiculous ban. Bad timing considering the leniency of the Healy ban.
The u20s spear tackle was much, much worse and more deliberate and more malicious. This tackle was just poor technique, when you grab a player below the waist, let alone at the knee, they spin as you lift them. It makes the tackle look worse than it is. The IRB are clueless.
Posted 09:54 28th February 2013
carpelone says...
Maybe it is because his name looks Italian, isn't it?
It is lucky that his name is not Niklaus Van Der Lukensburg, he would have got 26.
Posted 09:54 28th February 2013
TVaddict says...
Deserved it, though the disparity between his ban and Healy's is a joke.
Posted 01:57 28th February 2013
Kent says...
"Having taken into account aggravating and mitigating factors" - which were ???
Posted 22:24 27th February 2013
5Lock4ward says...
That tackle was bad. If it was judged on the high end of the spectrum of foul play and the punishment ranges from 12 to 52 weeks I'm shocked he only got 13. The only worse tip tackle I've ever seen was the Mealamu/Umaga double team suplex of BOD during the Lions tour of '05.
Posted 19:03 27th February 2013
makemehappy says...
Very harsh! Stupid tackle, but it seemed pretty clumsy to be. I'd prefer to ban people who deliberately seek to injur players, such as Healy.
Posted 18:25 27th February 2013