A minor incident reared-up in the traditional fixture between the CR&FC and Havelocks Sports Club in the Dialog League which was worked off Saturday 8th Nov. Havelock SC has lodged a complain againts CR& FC for playing 16 in the second half for a duration of just 2 phases of the game.
The incident took place around 8 minutes before the final whistle, when a substitution was made by CR and in the confusion the substituted player did not come off, thereby leaving 16 players on the field at that time. It was found out a tad later at a scrum in the Havelocks 22 meter.
Even though no tries were scored at this time, according to IRB laws a penalty should have been awarded to the Havies. According to Rajeev Perera, Havelock’s assistant coach “we had the inquiry with the SLRFU and we are awaiting for a decision”
When ThePapare.com contacted the CR&FC manager Dunstan De Silva, he said that “It is not our fault as we dealt clearly with the substitution chit with the officials in charge”
A similar incident took placed with England in their pool match against Samoa at Rugby World Cup 2003. A misunderstanding briefly left them with 16 men on the pitch, an oversight that saw England fined 10,000 pounds.” (IRB).
IRB law:
Law 3.2 : The team with more than the permitted number of players –
Objection: at any time before or during a match a team may make an objection to the referee about the number of players in their opponents’ team. As soon as the referee knows that a team has too many players, the referee must order the captain of that team to reduce the number appropriately. The score at the time of the objection remains unaltered.
Sanction: Penalty at the place where the match would restart.
A decision on the matter will be forthcoming after 5pm today. Given below is the video clip on the incident
