Nick Cain: Horwill’s escape is latest great stitch-up

The James Horwill incident is the straw that broke the camel’s back. When the Australian captain was exonerated by Kiwi QC James Hampton for a stamp to the head of Lions lock Alun Wyn Jones in the first Test because he somehow came to the conclusion he had no evidence of the action being deliberate, there was an overpowering sense of injustice.
It stemmed from a Northern Hemisphere touring side being on the receiving end not just of stitches – several above the left eye in the case Jones –  but being victims for the umpteenth time of a Southern Hemisphere disciplinary process which has all the hallmarks of a stitch-up.
There is barely a Northern Hemisphere tour I can remember to Australia, New Zealand or South Africa over the past 20 years when there has not been a disciplinary controversy because of a ‘one law for us, and another for them’ attitude on the part of Southern Hemisphere match officials, panels or citing officers.
This seems to have become even more pronounced since the formation of SANZAR, the body that is the international umbrella for the three southern powers.
Here’s the ledger of injustice.
– In 1997 Mpumalanga lock Marius Bosman escaped with no suspension but a £1,400 fine from his provincial tribunal for inflicting a potentially career-ending injury on Doddie Weir. His deliberate stamp hyper-extended and ruptured the knee of the Lions lock, who was trapped in a ruck.
– On England‘s 1998 ‘tour from hell’ the book was thrown at Danny Grewcock after he was sent off for a token toe-poke at New Zealand’s Anton Oliver after a collapsed scrum, when, in the same match Graham Rowntree had his head opened up by a blatant Ian Jones stamp  – yet the All Black lock escaped any sanction.
– The 2001 Lions tour saw the Wallaby centre,  Nathan Grey, take out flanker Richard Hill in the second Test in Melbourne with a flying elbow which would not have been out place in cage-fighting. Yet, after studying the evidence, the Kiwi citing officer deemed that Grey had no case to answer. Sound familiar?
– In England’s 2003 summer tour victory over New Zealand in Wellington, Josh Lewsey had multiple stitches in a head wound after a stamp by All Black lock Ali Williams. The New Zealand RFU panel said that Williams’ action was “inadvertant”.
– Simon Shaw was sent off in the first quarter of the 2004 England tour Test against New Zealand for a use of the knee in a maul which was to the body and much more innocuous than Horwill’s stamp. The red card recommendation came from Aussie assistant referee Stuart Dickenson who was 50 metres away.
– The 2005 Lions captain, Brian O’Driscoll, was drilled head first into the turf in an off-the-ball double spear tackle by All Black captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu in the opening minutes of the first Test. His shoulder was dislocated and he was invalided out of the tour, but independent SANZAR citing officer Willem Venter decided to take no action under the ‘red card test’. The South African came to the bizarre conclusion that the referee would not have sent the perpetrators off if he had seen the incident.
– Springbok flanker Schalk Burger was seen by assistant referee Bryce Lawrence with his fingers in the eye of Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald in the opening minutes of the 2009 second Test in Pretoria. Somehow Burger was sin-binned rather than sent off, but, after being fingered by Kiwi citing officer Steve Hinds, he was banned for a lenient eight weeks for eye-gouging, while SA coach Peter De Villiers said: “I don’t believe it was a card at all.”
Little wonder that the distrust and resentment of the SANZAR disciplinary treatment of Northern Hemisphere teams has come to a head with the Horwill citing.
The IRB are correct to appeal the Hampton decision – not least because it raises the spectre of Northern Hemisphere sides refusing to accept the appointment of SANZAR disciplinary and citing officers for future tour matches.
However, the decision to delay the Canadian official Graham Mew’s review until after the second Test in Melbourne, allowing Horwill to lead Australia despite having a disciplinary sword of Damocles hanging over him, is flawed. If it needs overturning, as the IRB clearly believe, it should have been done this week.
I have no doubt that judicial officer Hampton, who is a prominent New Zealand lawyer, and has worked for the NZRFU, SANZAR, and the IRB, delivered an impartial judgment based on the number of camera angles and depositions made to him by Horwill’s counsel. However, when the man in the street can see video evidence with his own eyes which, if he has played Rugby Union, points overwhelmingly towards a deliberate stamp downwards, he is inclined more towards seeing justice done on a strong balance of probability than shelved because of legal semantics.
What was most contentious is that Hampton was persuaded that Horwill was thrown off balance due to the buffeting he took from Lions players entering the ruck, and that this influenced where he put his feet. There is no footage which suggests that.
Furthermore, if someone is seeking to keep their balance, the usual reaction is to step out sideways or backwards to give yourself a wide base. It is not to maintain a narrow base, as the Wallaby lock did, and raise your knee before driving downwards at another player’s skull.
Horwill has said at length that he meant no harm, and did not even realise he had done it. The Australian Rugby Union say they are incensed by the citing, and the IRB’s decision to re-examine the ruling, because it de-stabilised the Wallaby second Test preparations.
It is all hot air. The evidence is clear, and Rugby Union’s mantra must be: Do the crime, do the time. Even if you are Wallaby captain.