Navy U23 Skipper Cited
Following the match against the Army U23 on 24 November the Army Rugby Union have cited Navy skipper POET Wayne 'Cowboy' John (HMS Bulwark) for an alleged dangerous tackle. Asked to comment Navy Director of Rugby, Lt Cdr Geraint Ashton Jones said: "I can confirm that the Army have informed us that they intend to cite Cowboy for a dangerous tackle but until I receive all the evidence from Navy Rugby's Disciplinary Officer (Cdr Stuart Crozier) and have been able to talk to the player it would be wrong to comment further. What I will say though is that the Army Rugby Union have handled the matter very fairly. They gave an indication immediately after the game that there was a concern but that they would fully consider the matter before making a decision. I believe that is the right and proper way to proceed and it is important that if a dangerous tackle was made then players face up to their responsibility to one another." A citing is handled in a similar way to a red card and is used when a team feel that an incident of foul or dangerous play has gone unnoticed by the match officials or if a penalty of yellow card was issued for what was believed to be a sending off offence. Recently there have been a number of incidents of players being cited for dangerous tackles. Both the iRB and the RFU have been keen to stress that a dangerous tackle is a matter of fact even if the intent of the tackler was not to commit a dangerous tackle. i.e. the tackler has a responsibility to the player he is tackling.