The Australia wing Reece Hodge may miss the rest of the World Cup after he was cited for his controversial tackle on Fiji’s Peceli Yato. He will face a disciplinary hearing in Tokyo this week and, if found guilty, he can expect a ban that would jeopardise the rest of his tournament.
Hodge went unpunished after the incident in the 25th minute but Yato, who had made a superb start to the match, was replaced after failing a head injury assessment. Fiji were privately furious that the referee, Ben O’Keeffe, did not take further action or consider awarding a penalty and asked for the incident to be reviewed by the citing commissioner. To compound matters for Fiji, who were leading 11-8 at the time of the incident, Hodge proceeded to score Australia’s next try.
World Rugby’s disciplinary guidelines state that sanctions for dangerous tackles which involve contact with the head start at a six-week suspension before mitigating factors are taken into account. Australia’s next match is against Wales on 29 September but, if Hodge does receive a six-week ban, he would be ruled out of the Wallabies’ next six matches, thereby ending his tournament. Under World Cup rules players who receive suspensions cannot be replaced.
Hodge’s citing will be of little consolation to Fiji, who will be without Yato for their match against Uruguay on Wednesday as he does not have enough time to undergo the HIA return-to-play protocols. The Fiji captain, Dominiko Waqaniburotu, revealed after Australia’s 39-21 victory at the Sapporo Dome that, having requested O’Keeffe to refer the incident to the television match official, Rowan Kitt, the tackle was deemed legitimate.
The Australia head coach, Michael Cheika, said he had not seen the incident after the match and instead focused on what he perceived to be unfair treatment of David Pocock by O’Keeffe and his assistants.
“The stuff on the ground, I’m not quite sure what’s going on but the team of three [officials] were talking about David Pocock from the first minute of the game,” Cheika said. “I’m not sure what he’s done but there was some severe focus on him. I heard his name mentioned between them on the commentary at least half a dozen times in their own chat when he hadn’t even been involved in the ruck.”