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Louise Thomas
Editor
New Leicester Tigers boss Michael Cheika has been hit with a ban after being charged with disrespecting a matchday doctor following his first fixture in charge of the club.
Cheika was appointed at 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 was found to have subsequently disrespected the matchday doctor.
Cheika was charged with breaking Rugby Football Union (RFU) Rule 5.12, which covers a broad range of conduct that is prejudicial to the interests of the game, and given a two-match ban. One game of the punishment is suspended until the end of the 2024/25 season.
Richard Whittam KC, independent disciplinary panel chair, said: "Then panel found that Michael Cheika disrespected the Independent Match Day Doctor in challenging the decision he had made that a player was subject to an IPR (Immediate Permanent Removal).
"Although it was an unusual case because there was a lack of clarity about the decisions made about the head injuries, the decisions of the Independent Match Day Doctor must be respected. In this particular case, the appropriate sanction was one of two weeks. The panel mitigated this by suspending one week until the end of the season."
The full details of Cheika’s disciplinary hearing are yet to be released.
Leicester had centre Solomone Kata sent off during the encounter for a dangerous tackle, with the Tongan given a four-match ban. Kata is next free to play on 1 November.
The written judgement at Kata’s disciplinary hearing revealed, though, that the independent matchday doctor missed footage displaying “obvious on-field signs of concussion” that should have led to his removal from the pitch prior to the incident.
He sustained the injury during a clash with teammate Ollie Chessum, who passed a head injury assessment (HIA) on the day and returned to action but subsequnently failed a second assessment, leading to him being stood down from the weekend defeat to Bath as he progressed through concussion protocols.
Leicester were beaten 20-15 in their second fixture of the campaign at Welford Road on Sunday.
