Dean Mumm has been suspended for two weeks for a shoulder charge on Saia Faingaa from last night’s Reds v Tahs clash, while Adam Byrnes and Will Caldwell have been cleared of biting and eye gouging charges respectively.
Mummy was charged under Law 10.4 (h) Barging into a Ruck or Maul. Judicial Officer Paul Tully found him in breach of this law and suspended Mummy until Round 4. This means Mumm will miss the Tahs tour of South Africa and crucial games against the Stormers and Bulls.
More interestingly however was the decision to clear both Caldwell and Byrnes. From the video posted below, it is pretty clear that both were up to no good and at least one of them probably should have gone a row of shit-houses.
Making his decision in relation to Caldwell, Tully found that Caldwell’s hand had first made contact the Byrnes’ chest before slipping up to his face. Ever the gentlemen, Byrnes no doubt helped Caldwell’s defence by stating he did not feel fingers in his eyes and this, along with the absence of any medical evidence to suggest gouging took place, was enough.
In the case of Byrnes, Caldwell returned the favour by stating that his finger had been in Byrnes’ mouth but the cut happened when he tried to remove his finger from Byrnes’ mouth, and not from a biting action by Byrnes.
Even the Tahs’ Dr Shazza rushed to Byrnes’ defence by giving evidence that the injury to Caldwell was caused by a ripping motion rather than that of a bite. Maybe Dr Shazz got her medical qualifications in Transylvania, as Tully was clearly impressed and in his final statement acknowledged her expertise to qualify her to make this statement.
The ripping not biting defence sounds a bit like “I didn’t inhale” to me, but it’s good to know the two protagonist were able to negotiate a settlement rather than looking down the barrel of lengthy suspensions.
