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Former Wallaby slammed for comments on ‘poor CJ Stander’ lift
Published 17:17 27 Jun 2018 BST
Updated 19:05 27 Jun 2018 BST
Homerugby
Former Wallabies number eight Stephen Hoiles has been criticised for his comments on Israel Folau's one-game suspension following a mid-air collision with Ireland flanker Peter O'Mahony in Australia's 20-16 loss to Ireland last weekend.
The Wallabies and Waratahs full-back was cited over the incident in the ninth minute, and was later yellow carded for a similar tackle in the air on O'Mahony later in the half, with citing commissioner Michael O'Leary describing Folau's actions as 'strikingly similar' to the contest for which he was yellow-carded. https://twitter.com/andymcgeady/status/1011003514871525382
Under World Rugby's Regulation 17.25.3 (b), the combination of the yellow card and post-match citation means that the incident must be treated as a red card and therefore go to a disciplinary hearing where Folau received a one-game ban for the challenge.
"A World Rugby judicial panel has handed Wallabies fullback Israel Folau a one-match suspension at a hearing in Sydney tonight," Rugby Australia said. "Folau will appeal the decision, however if the suspension is upheld on appeal the 29-year-old will miss Friday night's top-of-the-table Australian Conference clash with the Melbourne Rebels."Hoiles wrote on his Twitter account that World Rugby have suspended a player for winning the ball and questioned what lengths the sport's governing body would go to next to protect players from injury. https://twitter.com/stevehoiles/status/1011917890612629504 Hoiles was widely criticised for his remarks which follow on from former Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell's recent criticism of referee Pascal Gaüzère for yellow carding Folau. https://twitter.com/iseultcody/status/1011997606808117249 https://twitter.com/BHHooker/status/1011996731951734785 https://twitter.com/andymcgeady/status/1011968915000479746 https://twitter.com/nkeegan/status/1011992642731855873 https://twitter.com/MintyMagic23/status/1011942957895700480 Stander admitted that he probably should have done a better job at protecting his Munster and Ireland teammate but that Folau's athletic ability made retrieving restarts quite challenging.
"It's a tough one, because I'm the one lifting him and I need to look after him," Stander told reporters (via The Irish Examiner). "It's just that Folau is unbelievable in the air, it's one of those ones where you need to go back and look at it and he got a yellow card.
"It's tough, Pete got injured because of it. It's something we worked on during the week, we knew it was going to come, I could have probably protected him a bit better."
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