Durban — A distinctly unamused John Dobson has described the Bulls’ citing of Stormers loose forward Willie Englebrecht as “spurious” and “disappointing”.
A disciplinary hearing found Engelbrecht not guilty of an alleged dangerous clear-out early in the Bulls’ defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town at the weekend, and Stormers coach Dobson has made very clear his feelings about the Bulls’ decision to go after Engelbrecht.
“It is unfortunate to have spurious citings for incidents like this and I fear we may be on a slippery slope if this is the sort of thing teams are citing for,” the disappointed Dobson said in a statement released by the Stormers.
“We are happy that the panel dismissed this so that we maintain our good record in disciplinary hearings of this nature,” he said.
Engelbrecht was alleged to have made contact with the head and neck area of a Bulls player in a clean-out early in the game, but the panel found his actions neither reckless nor intentional and did not warrant a red card.
He is free to play in the Stormers’ match against the Lions on Saturday.
No doubt, Stormers fans will feel that the citing stems from sour grapes, and with good reason.
The Bulls had heavily targeted this round 10 game — a repeat of the United Rugby Championship final which was also won by the Stormers — and had gone so far as sending a B team to play the Exeter Chiefs in a Heineken Cup match so that their big guns would be rested for the Stormers match in the URC.
IOL Sport