Disciplinary panel finds Barnes missed two red cards in Munster match

Wayne Barnes lost control of Munster’s game down in Castres at the weekend and the decisions at this evening’s Independent Disciplinary Committee confirms that it was not one of the Englishman’s best performances.

In what was an ill-tempered affair Rory Kockott’s eye gouge on Chris Cloete and Marc-Antoine Rallier’s reckless tackle on Peter O’Mahony were both deemed worth of red cards.

Barnes and his officiating team missed Rory Kockott’s eye gouge on Cloete in the lead up to the Castres try, despite the fact that the incident was no more than ten feet from the assistant referee. O’Mahony brought the incident to his attention but Barnes decided against asking the TMO to look at the it.

The Committee found that Kockott’s offence warranted a red card and found that he had made contact with Cloete’s eye area and that it was at the low end of World Rugby’s sanctions.

Four weeks was selected as the appropriate entry point but due to the player’s guilty plea and good conduct at the hearing, the Committee decided to reduce the sanction by one week before imposing a three-week suspension.

Also arising from the same game, Castres Olympique replacement hooker, Marc-Antoine Rallier, has been suspended for one week also at Wednesday’s hearing.

The Committee found that the offence warranted a red card and found that the act of foul play was at the low end of World Rugby’s sanctions and selected two weeks as the appropriate entry point.