Two weeks before England play France in the RBS Six Nations Championship, the nations’ rugby authorities are at loggerheads after the French refused to ban a player for eye-gouging.
Laurent Sempéré, the Stade Français hooker, is not even in the France team, yet the decision of French rugby administrators to overturn a 15-week suspension imposed on him for eye-gouging has so incensed clubs in England that a complaint will be taken to World Rugby with the concern that the game’s disciplinary system “will break down”.
Sempéré was cited after Stade’s European Champions Cup group game against Leicester Tigers at the end of January. The disciplinary body of European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) handed him a 15-week ban for eye-gouging on Marcos Ayerza, the Leicester prop. However, last week a combined hearing made up of representatives of the French league and the French federation decided to overturn the suspension.
As things stand, Sempéré is now banned in Europe but not in France. He can play for Stade in the Top 14 today against Pau, but when the European Champions Cup quarter-finals come round next month — when Stade are drawn against Leicester again — he will be banned.
Eye-gouging is the same offence that had Chris Ashton, the Saracens wing, banned for ten weeks and has resulted in him missing the Six Nations. Ashton was also penalised for this offence in a European game, yet his ban stands.
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The European disciplinary system is rubber-stamped by World Rugby. Premiership Rugby (PRL), the body that represents the English clubs is furious that the French have decided that there is one rule for them and another for the rest of the continent.
“It’s a huge issue for us,” Phil Winstanley, the rugby director at PRL, said. “We’ve raised it with the RFU and it’s a problem for them too. We’ve raised some questions with the RFU and representations will be made to World Rugby. In the absence of any intervention from World Rugby, the disciplinary system will break down.
“You want fairness across all territories. Two players were suspended in Europe. One is available for his club, the other is not. You have a significant issue here.”
EPCR is understood to be similarly disenchanted and will make a statement on the matter next week.
The question remains whether Sempéré’s ban will be enforced in France. If not, EPCR could carry the ban into next season and beyond so that it covers a full 15 weekends of European competition.
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The French felt able to challenge the ban on Sempéré because they have a different national jurisdiction regarding sporting decisions. However, World Rugby faces an impossible situation if it is seen to allow one national body to decide on disciplinary matters independently.
This is a rugby “Frexit”. The French want all the benefits of being in Europe without actually following all the European laws.