Max Guazzini, the flamboyant president of Stade Français, has accused an English judge of anti-French bias after David Attoub, the prop forward, was banned for 70 weeks for gouging.
Guazzini also indicated that he would challenge the validity of the suspension, the second longest for such an offence in the sport’s history.
Attoub received his heavy sentence from Judge Jeff Blackett, the RFU’s disciplinary officer, who described the attack on Stephen Ferris, the Ulster and Ireland flanker, during a Heineken Cup pool match on December 12 as “the worst act of contact with the eyes that I have had to deal with. It is a case of deliberate eye gouging.”
Blackett, who reserved judgment last night in the case of Brendan Venter, the Saracens director of rugby who was charged this month for his outburst against a referee, meted out the punishment to Attoub six days after the suspension that he handed last month to Julien Dupuy, Attoub’s team-mate, was reduced on appeal by only one week, to 23 weeks. The France scrum half was found guilty of making contact with Ferris’s eyes in the same incident. Guazzini suggested that Attoub would appeal, then launched a tirade against the discplinary panel, chaired by Blackett.
“They based their punishment on the British system,” Guazzini said. “We tumbled upon an overzealous judge and with an anti-French bias. [Schalk] Burger [who gouged Luke Fitzgerald in the Lions’ second international against South Africa last summer] got eight weeks for the same offence, Attoub receives 70 weeks. Where’s the sense in that?”
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In the top level of seriousness for contact with the eyes, the offence carries a maximum ban of three years. But not only will Stade, who are in pole position to qualify from pool four, contest the length of the ban, it is likely they will seek to ensure that it applies only to European and not domestic rugby. The club intend to seek support from the French federation and the French league, even though the ban covers all competitions.
As things stand, Attoub, who pleaded not guilty, will not be eligible to play again until April 22, 2011, after his suspension was backdated to December 18. That was the date of the original hearing, which was adjourned so that photographs that showed the prop with his fingers in Ferris’s eye sockets could be analysed. Attoub claimed in his defence that the images had been altered to incriminate him.
After a reconvened hearing last week, Blackett ruled the photographs to be genuine, but sentence was delayed until yesterday. That it was so hefty, exceeded only by the two-year ban handed to Richard Nones, the Colomiers prop, in 1999, is no surprise, given the determination of the authorities to rid the sport of gouging. The IRB has told disciplinary authorities to show no mercy on those found guilty.
Blackett said it was that IRB directive and the player’s previous history, which included three suspensions for foul play — one for gouging in the 2004-05 season — that led him to impose a penalty that could end the 28-year-old’s career. The judge added that Attoub had incriminated himself in his evidence by appearing evasive.
Blackett will rule on Venter’s case today, the former Springboks centre having been charged with “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game”. After Saracens’ defeat by Leicester at Vicarage Road on January 2, Venter criticised the performance of David Rose, the referee. It is alleged that, in a BBC Radio interview, Venter questioned Rose’s integrity.
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It was confirmed last night that England will be without Tom Croft for at least their first two games next month in the RBS Six Nations Championship, against Wales and Italy, after he was ruled out for five to six weeks. The Leicester flanker suffered medial knee ligament damage in the Heineken Cup win over Viadana on Saturday.
Croft may be doubtful, too, for the game on February 27 against Ireland, whose head coach, Declan Kidney, has recalled Marcus Horan and Rory Best in his Six Nations squad. Horan, the Munster prop, missed the autumn internationals with a minor heart problem, and Best, the Ulster hooker, had neck surgery last summer. Luke Fitzgerald and Denis Leamy were the only players ruled out by injury in a squad containing nine uncapped players.
J?rôme Schuster, the Perpignan prop, was last night suspended for a fortnight for butting Leamy during the Heineken Cup match with Munster on December 20.
Dwayne Peel, the Wales scrum half, has learnt that his groin injury was less serious than feared and may resume training in two weeks.
The longest bans
? Two years: Richard Nones (Colomiers), November 1999. The prop was heavily punished for an injury-time gouge in a Heineken Cup game against Pontypridd.
? 26 weeks: Dylan Hartley (Northampton), April 2007. The hooker’s hopes of playing for England in the World Cup were dashed after being cited for gouging three London Wasps players. One of the offences was overturned.
? 23 weeks: Julien Dupuy (Stade Francais), December 2009. The scrum half’s club said the penalty for gouging Stephen Ferris, of Ulster, was to do with him being French.