Wales star Lee Byrne has been banned from the Six Nations opener against England at Twickenham next week. The fullback must serve a two-week suspension after admitting a misconduct charge following his brief appearance as a 16th player during the Ospreys’ Heineken Cup victory over Leicester last Saturday.
An independent European Rugby Cup disciplinary committee, sitting in Dublin today, fined the Ospreys €25,000 after they also pleaded guilty to a misconduct complaint.
But the disciplinary panel ruled that the result still stands as there had been “no material effect on the match”. Ospreys will meet Biarritz in this season’s Heineken Cup quarter-finals on April 10th.
Leicester, led by their chief executive Peter Wheeler and chairman Peter Tom, lodged an official complaint with ERC after the second-half incident at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium and had hoped to reinstated to the competition.
Byrne, who went off with a bloodied toe and was replaced by Sonny Parker, returned three minutes later without any of his Ospreys team-mates going off.
Chaos reigned on the touchline, with match referee Alan Lewis berating an Ospreys touchline official, while he also did not award Leicester the penalty they should have had for Ospreys temporarily fielding an extra player.
Leicester claimed Byrne was involved in halting a break by Tigers scrumhalf Ben Youngs as they looked to claw back a 17-12 deficit.
Outhalf Dan Biggar eventually departed the action, as Ospreys moved back to 15 players.
In a statement, ERC said: “Ospreys and Mr Byrne pleaded guilty to the misconduct complaints.
“During the hearing, the independent disciplinary committee heard submissions from representatives of ERC and Ospreys and from a number of witnesses, and considered statements from various individuals and video evidence from the match.
“The committee also heard submissions from representatives of Leicester Tigers.
“The independent Disciplinary Committee found that Mr Byrne had re-entered the pitch without the referee’s permission and that he knew, or ought to have known, that he needed that permission.
“The committee found that this represented a clear breach of the substitution protocol, which forms part of the Heineken Cup 2009/10 tournament rules, and that the club could have done more to ensure that such a breach did not occur.”
ERC continued: “However, the committee found that the breach had not been deliberate or premeditated on the part of the club’s management, and that there had been no material effect on the match.
“In the circumstances, the committee imposed a fine of euros 25,000 on the Ospreys and suspended Mr Byrne from playing rugby for a period of two weeks, up to and including Friday, February 12, 2010.
“Mr Byrne will be free to play on Saturday, February 13th, 2010.”
Byrne, the Ospreys and ERC, whose disciplinary officer Roger O’Connor brought the misconduct complaints, have the right to appeal, but not Leicester.
Wales boss Warren Gatland was expected to name British and Irish Lion Byrne in his side to face England tomorrow week. The Kiwi is due to name his team on Sunday evening, with Byrne having been lined up to reclaim the number 15 shirt after missing Wales’ entire autumn Test programme through injury.
With Byrne out - subject to any successful appeal - Gatland faces little option other than to retain James Hook as the last line of defence, despite the latter being identified for a role in the centre alongside his fellow Lion Jamie Roberts.
Byrne will be eligible to play in Wales’ second game against Scotland in Cardiff, the following Saturday.
While Byrne’s suspension and a substantial fine is tough for the Ospreys to take, they will at least feel relieved to have avoided possible tournament expulsion.
It was a course of action open to the disciplinary panel, but many rugby followers will feel that sanity has prevailed.
Leicester’s defeat last weekend meant they finished third in Pool Three behind group winners Clermont Auvergne and the Ospreys, who progressed as the tournament’s best runner-up.