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New Leicester Tigers boss Michael Cheika has been hit with a ban after being accused of disrespecting a doctor on the day after his first match in charge of the club.
Cheika was appointed to Welford Road on a one-year deal this summer, replacing fellow Australian Dan McKellar at the helm in a significant coup.
The former Wallabies and Argentina coach guided his side to a narrow victory over Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park on the opening weekend of the Premiership season, but subsequently fell short respect to the doctor of the day.
Cheika was charged with breaching Rugby Football Union (RFU) rule 5.12, which covers a wide range of behavior detrimental to the interests of the game, and was handed a two-match suspension. A penalty match is suspended until the end of the 2024/25 season.
Richard Whittam KC, chairman of the independent disciplinary committee, said: “Then the committee concluded that Michael Cheika had disrespected the independent match day doctor by challenging the decision he made that a player was subject to an IPR (immediate permanent withdrawal).
“While this is an unusual case due to a lack of clarity on the decisions made regarding head injuries, the decisions of the independent match day doctor must be respected. In this particular case, the appropriate sanction was two weeks. The panel mitigated this issue by suspending it for one week until the end of the season.
Full details of Cheika’s disciplinary hearing have not yet been released.
Leicester had center Solomone Kata sent off during the match for a dangerous tackle, with the Tongan suspended for four matches. Kata will then be available for free on November 1st.
The written judgment at Kata’s disciplinary hearing, however, found that the independent match doctor missed footage showing “obvious signs of concussion on the pitch” which should have led to his expulsion from the field before the incident.
He was injured in a clash with teammate Ollie Chessum, who passed a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) that day and returned to action, but then failed a second assessment, this which led to him being withdrawn from the weekend’s defeat to Bath as it progressed. through concussion protocols.
Leicester were beaten 20-15 in their second match of the campaign at Welford Road on Sunday.
