Michael Cheika has been banned from Leicester’s match against Newcastle this weekend after being found guilty of disrespecting the independent match-day doctor following his first match in charge of the Tigers.
Cheika was handed a two-week suspension, one of which is suspended, after a Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing that concluded late on Tuesday night. The Australian had been charged with conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game. While the disciplinary panel acknowledged it was “an unusual case”, it emphasized that “decisions of the independent match-day doctor must be respected”.
The incident occurred after Leicester’s narrow victory over Exeter at Sandy Park. During the match, Tigers players Ollie Chessum and Solomone Kata collided while attempting to tackle Exeter’s Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. Chessum was removed for a head injury assessment and was subject to “immediate player removal”. The England forward was then stood down for 12 days, in line with protocols, and missed Leicester’s defeat by Bath last Sunday.
Kata, meanwhile, was not removed for an HIA despite showing “obvious concussion symptoms”. Shortly after, he was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Jack Yeandle, raising questions about whether he should have still been on the pitch. He was banned for four matches, and the Bath defeat was not included as he was deemed unavailable due to his head injury.
Richard Whittam KC, chair of the independent disciplinary panel, stated: “The panel found that Michael Cheika disrespected the independent match-day doctor by challenging the decision he had made that a player was subject to an IPR [Immediate Permanent Removal].” Although it was an unusual case due to a lack of clarity about the decisions made regarding head injuries, the decisions of the independent matchday doctor must be respected. In this particular case, the appropriate sanction was one of two weeks, with one week suspended until the end of the season.
