Morgan Turinui said he was “very surprised” that Hunter Paisami would a lengthy period on the sidelines after his shot on Lalomilo Lalomilo went unpunished by the referee, but that’s exactly how it’s turned out, with the Reds star banned for three weeks.
Stan Sport’s Michael Atkinson reports that Paisami had his suspension downgraded from six weeks to three after getting a 50 per cent discount for admitting fault and entering an early guilty plea.
The ban can be reduced by a further game if he successfully applies to World Rugby’s Coaching Intervention Program, which is designed to educate players to help them reduce risk of infringing in future.
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Hunter Paisami’s shot against Moana Pasifika. Stan Sport
The Paisami incident occurred during the Reds’ 56-36 victory over Moana Pasifika, when the inside centre managed to stop a near certain try in the corner in the 30th minute after crouching into a collision with his opposite.
The tackle led to Lalomilo being taken off the field.
“He’s not in good shape … this is a big, big collision,” Justin Harrison said on Stan Sport at the time.
Paisami was cited by the citing commissioner for a dangerous tackle, with the report stating ‘the incident met the red card threshold for foul play’.
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Speaking on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts, former Wallabies Nick Phipps and Turinui flagged a suspension for Paisami before explaining why they thought a ban would be harsh.
“I think he’ll get more than a couple,” Turinui said.
“He’ll go in at six weeks and he won’t get much (off that). The fact that it’s the citing officer (making the call), not the referees. The referees’ information that I’m getting is they’re pretty happy with their on-field decision.”
Turinui expressed his support for the referee’s call.
“It is forceful, dangerous, high contact but I don’t think it’s foul play. There’s a huge late dip in height to not far off the ground. Hunter Paisami, his shoulder’s are low with his hips, he’s bent at the hips, he’s bent at the knees, he’s trying to save a try, he’s in a really safe space to try and make a tackle where the late dip unfortunately means there’s head contact,” he explained.
“I actually think the referees will think they got that right, I’m very surprised the citing officer has cited Hunter Paisami but the fact it has been done means that it’s going to be hard to get out of and if entry point is six weeks, he’s got a record, they might not let him go to tackle school, they’ll have to check if he’s eligible still, it could be something like five weeks.”
