Scott Barrett gets off 'scot-free'

New Zealand's Scott Barrett is free to play after an independent judicial committee decided that his ordering off in the RWC 2023 Warm Up match against South Africa on 25 August 2023 was sufficient and that no further sanction was necessary. 

New Zealand's Scott Barrett appeared before an independent Judicial Committee on Monday, 28 August having received a red card in New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup 2023 warm-up match against South Africa on 25 August 2023. The red card was awarded following the receipt of two yellow cards.

The independent Disciplinary Committee was chaired by Sir James Dingemans (England), joined by former international player Olly Kohn (Wales) and former referee Valeriu Toma (Romania).

The Committee found that Appendix 4 of Regulation 17 requires the Judicial Committee to apply a sanction for the offence of persistent offending, not for the substantive offences relating to each yellow card (see Regulation 17, Appendix 4, at B.1).

Appendix 4 at B 2(c) provides that: “The … judicial committee may decide that sending off was sufficient … in the following circumstances … (c) any of the temporary suspensions were awarded for so-called technical offences (including following a team warning) not involving a breach of laws 9.11 to 9.28 inclusive.”

The independent Judicial Committee found that sending off was a sufficient sanction in this case because the player was sent off for two yellow cards (referred to as temporary suspensions in the appendix), and the first  of those yellow cards was for a technical offence following a team warning.

The player has the right of appeal within 48 hours of the issuing of the full written decision.