Sri Lanka Rugby has got tough with player discipline yet again as Army’s Mohammed Rizvi and Navy’s Buddhima Piyaratne have been slapped with match bans with regard to the incidents that took place in the opening week of the second round action of the Dialog Rugby League.
Army’s Mohammed Rizvi was handed a red card during the Army vs CR & FC game that was played on the 29th December when he stamped on a player in the ruck.
On-field referee Dinka Peiris who spotted the infringement showed no hesitation in handing out a red card, leaving Army with 14 players for the 60 minutes left in the game.
The incident was later cited by the judicial commission and Rizvi will hence face a three-match suspension.
This leaves Army in a critical position with their first choice scrum half missing three important games in the second round. Rizvi played an important role in Army’s fight that saw them finishing 3rd at the end of the 1st round.
Meanwhile, Navy’s Buddhima Piyaratne also has come under the purview of the judiciary committee with regard to the dangerous tackle he made in the match between Navy and CH & FC at Welisara.
It was a high tackle on Avantha Lee that was committed inches behind the try line that was cited by the citing match official in his report.
Referee Irshad Cader referred the Television Match Official on that occasion and a penalty try was awarded but Piyaratne was fortunate to get away without being sent to the sin bin.
However, the judicial committee has decided that to hand over a one match ban for the national sevens cap and he will likely miss the match between Army.
Progressing to the ninth week of the Dialog Rugby League, tournament organizers Sri Lanka Rugby is making all efforts to maintain the discipline during and after the game in order to have the competitive structure intact.
The ninth week games will kick off on Friday.
