Leicester Tigers Club statement: Independent disciplinary panel outcome

After careful consideration, Leicester Tigers have decided not to appeal the sanction imposed against Michael Cheika by an independent disciplinary panel on Tuesday evening.

The Head Coach received a two week suspension, with one week suspended until the end of the 2024/25 season, and will now miss Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership away game against Newcastle Falcons.

Michael will be back for the home game against Northampton Saints in Round 4. 

After only receiving the full judgment on Thursday evening and consulting internally, it was felt that an appeal was not in the best interests of moving on from this matter. 

The club accepts that a number of errors took place in the HIA process during the Round 1 fixture, which was acknowledged during the hearing by both the Leicester Tigers medical staff and the Independent Match Day Doctor, but it wishes to stress that it has the utmost confidence in all of our staff and their care for players.

We believe that the very unusual circumstances, which were acknowledged by the panel and that led to the mistakes in the process, warranted an explanation post-match and therefore respectfully disagree with the decision by the panel to conclude that those actions amounted to disrespect. 

The club will be seeking clarification from the RFU on any similar future situations, should they arise.