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Springboks call foul on Thorn sanction

Monday 07th July 2008

Guilty as charged: Brad Thorn

The Springboks have expressed their dismay at the leniency of the one-week ban handed down to All Blacks lock Brad Thorn for his off-the-ball tackle on South African captain John Smit.

Thorn admitted to foul play at a SANZAR judicial hearing on Sunday following New Zealand's 19-8 Tri-Nations win in Wellington on Saturday.

Judicial officer Dennis Wheelahan, of Australia, amended the original dangerous tackle citing and found Thorn guilty of "an act contrary to good sportsmanship".

The All Blacks lock lifted Smit to a horizontal position after the whistle blew at a ruck in the opening minutes of the encounter and dropped him to the ground where he landed on his back.

The Springbok camp believe Thorn should have been sanctioned under the original citing - dangerous play - which would have meant a heftier ban.

"Law 10.4 clearly states that if a player is lifted up and driven down - either spear tackled or his head or upper body hits the ground first - that it constitutes a dangerous tackle," said South African manager Andy Marinos on Monday.

"There are various sanctioning levels around that, so we think he got off rather light in that John was injured in that incident.

"There has to be consistency in the way we adjudicate the incident on the field and the way it is adjudicated afterwards, so the playing ground is level going forward. I don't think it (the decision) is consistent with what the regulations have prescribed for us."

Blues lock Anthony Boric is expected to be called up as Thorn's replacement for the second Test in Dunedin on Saturday to face Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha in the line-outs.

Matfield said the All Blacks would miss the physical presence of Thorn when the teams met again.

"He's probably in the same mould of a Bakkies Botha in that he does all of the hard work," said Matfield, the Springboks vice-captain.

"He really gives them that physical edge so I think they will definitely miss him."