AUSTRALIA’S HEAD COACH Michael Cheika has expressed sympathy for Ross Ford and Jonny Gray after the Scottish pair were handed three-week suspensions.
Hooker Ford and lock Gray were cited by citing commissioner Scott Nowland after an incident during Scotland’s pool victory over Samoa at St James’ Park last Saturday.
The pair were banned after being found guilty of a dangerous tackle on Jack Lam and they will now miss the rest of the World Cup, including this weekend’s quarter-final against Australia.
Scotland are now considering an appeal with former international Kenny Logan brandishing the extent of the punishment ‘a sick joke’.
And Cheika admits he feels sorry for players who have had their tournament cut short for disciplinary reasons.
“I haven’t seen the incident but I feel for them,” the former Leinster coach said. “It’s the World Cup, you have worked hard for it and when you get to possibly three finals
to play, you miss out.
“The same happened to (Michael) Hooper last week. His grandparents came over to watch him play (last weekend) and he was suspended. I know it’s a little thing but it’s important. You feel for the players.”
18 players have now been cited and subsequently punished throughout the course of the group stages with Ireland’s Sean O’Brien one of the latest players to be banned after being found guilty of hitting Pascal Pape.
The citing commissioners and disciplinary hearing committees have been the subject of widespread criticism for the length of bans they’ve handed down and the manner in which they’ve penalised players for minor offences.
However, Cheika doesn’t believe the increased concentration on disciplinary issues by officials is taking anything away from the game.
“No, I don’t think it has lost something,” he continued. The game’s qualities are the
same. That is why we love playing it and being a part of it. It’s not an issue of whether the game has lost its core qualities around contact and the physicality.
“More access, more vision, more opinion and people watching the game. The authorities have decided that is the way they are going to go.”
Scotland have 48 hours to appeal the decision if they want two of their key forwards to be available for Sunday’s quarter-final tie at Twickenham.
Their absence is a significant setback for Vern Cotter’s team but Cheika insists Ford and Gray’s replacements will come in determined to make an impact.
“I haven’t watched many games yet but I know the two players from their history with Scotland. They are very influential but I think these types of tournaments are made for people stepping up.
“The guys who will replace those two are ready to roll. We understand there will
be 23 players in the Scotland jersey trying to smash us. It doesn’t matter the names on the jerseys.”
Australia finished top of Pool A with wins over Wales, England, Fiji and Uruguay and Cheika gave a positive update on the fitness of Matt Giteau on Wednesday with Israel Folau and David Pocock also returning to training.
“Giteau didn’t train yesterday, but is OK to train today. The other two we read as we go. We have two sessions today so they will maybe do one of the two.”
Australia face Scotland in the final quarter-final on Sunday at 4pm.
