Wednesday, 12th September 2007 at 3:26 pm

Schalk Burger gets four weeks

Feverpitcher has looked at the footage. And looked at it again. We’ve then had a look at Phil Vickery’s deliberate trip (two week suspension, but with ten days in the Maldives thrown in by the citing commission by way of apology). And we’ve had a look at Brian Lima’s homicidal charge on Andre Pretorius, which resulted in no citing, but a ‘Get Well Soon’ card from the same commission. And then we looked at the footage of Schalk Burger again, and tried to work out where the four week ban came from…

Was the blonde flanker a little careless? Certainly. Was his technique off-kilter in trying to get his hands on the ball? Perhaps. But a referee standing mere feet from the incident, after consultation with a linesman who was almost as close, resulted in a penalty, a talking to, and an apology from Burger for what was no more than a poorly judged piece of rugby. Four week ban? Ridiculous.

Had Burger been found with half a kilo of cocaine in his locker, say, or a collection of fake credit cards in his wallet, then four weeks might have made sense. But the citing commission - particularly in the context of Vickery’s deliberate foul play, and Lima’s murderous intent - have got it embarrassingly wrong, and unless the appeal pays off, Schalk is out until the semifinals. Look out for the citing commissioners (led by an Australian) sporting expensive new watches and swollen bank accounts courtesy of South Africa’s rivals - and Schalk Burger sitting with great frustration on the sidelines.