Leinster boss Joe Schmidt is unhappy with the decision that saw Paul O’Connell escape a citing and has called it a ‘dangerous move’.
By Declan Whooley
More than a few eyebrows were raised when the Independent Citing Commissioner found that that O’Connell’s kick on Dave Kearney’s head, an incident that saw the Leinster man leave the pitch unconscious, was ‘careless’ and not worthy of a red card offence.
Speaking today at Leinster’s UCD training session, the Kiwi said he could not understand the decision and warns that a dangerous precedent has been set.
“I think the baseline that has just been created by the citing commissioner is an incredibly dangerous one,” the head coach said. “90,000 hits on You Tube. That’s kids and parents. If that’s deemed by an individual to be an acceptable act on a rugby field…”
He added that regardless of whether it was intentional or not, there is a duty of care and for that reason the Munster second-row shouldn’t have escaped without any sanction.
“I think anyone who has been involved in an incident where someone has to leave the field in that condition…we can get into semantics, the toe, the shin, the foot….You just cannot fly hack near someone’s head like that.”
Kearney was released from hospital on Sunday and will be sidelined for a number of weeks following the kick on Saturday night.
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