Disclosure of certain information to Judicial Officer Mr Adam Casselden has meant that a fair hearing could not be guaranteed, hence the Stormers misconduct hearing being postponed.
A SANZAR Judicial Hearing commenced on Tuesday night to hear complaints of Match Day Misconduct against the Stormers and their Team Management relating to the Hurricanes v Stormers Super Rugby match played on 26 April in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
This hearing was adjourned at the request of Stormers Management.
Upon resumption of the hearing, Judicial Officer Mr Adam Casselden revealed that he could not proceed due to concerns that a fair hearing was no longer possible because of the disclosure of certain information to him.
Mr Casselden has referred the Misconduct complaints to a new SANZAR Judicial Officer in the belief that a new hearing is necessary in the interests of fairness to all parties.
SANZAR will appoint a new Judicial Officer and set a date and time for the new hearing in due course.
At the direction of the Judicial Officer, SANZAR and the Stormers will make no further comments at this time.
Thanks for the clear explanation of the new scrum set commands and infringements, Andrew.
I may be a relic from the scrums of the fifties, sixties and seventies, but as I recall we pitched up ( I was a lock) at scrum time, got down, settled in without any attempt to cadge an early hit or rush, heard the command from our scrumhalf(if it was our put in) and then used every bit of technique, strength and energy to ensure that we gave our hooker a good shot at a clean heel(losing a tighthead was a mortal sin), hookers swung beautifully to hook the ball back through the locks feet , where ot was cleared behind the 8th man’s feet by the scrumhalf, or trapped by him to use as a shove forward until it was opportune to release the ball to the backline.
It all seemed simple and nobody had to coach or sentence the two scrums as the referees do now.
Let’s hope the new commands restore the beauty of the scrum from a steady platform.
And that is the irony Gavin … After so much change, the new law sees the scrum basically move back to the way it worked at the get go! And I for one, am with you, and hope we see a good old fashioned fair contest that does not need the special branch of MI6 to police it 🙂