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After three meetings, Wallaby Michael Hooper has been cleared to play in the Rugby Championship decider against the All Blacks at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
What a farce from the get go.
There are three specific steps which make someone in SANZAR look stupid.
First up, referee Jaco Peyper and his touchie missed a blatant forward pass from Hooper to Dean Mumm that led to a charging try in the corner by Mumm from 30 metres out.
Had that been pulled up, there wouldn’t have been any incident between Hooper and Puma pivot Nicolas Sanchez.
But Peyper and the “touchie” missed the forward psss, and with Hooper following Mumm, Sanchez grabbed hold of Hooper to take him out of the play.
Sanchez is a serial offender at foul play but rarely pinged.
Hooper, in frustration, lashed out at Sanchez with an open hand to free himself, prompting Sanchez to bung on an Oscar winning dive, clutching the wrong side of his face.
What should have happened?
Sanchez should have copped a yellow card, and that was that.
Instead, someone behind the SANZAR closed door cited Hooper on a striking charge.
What a farce, and who was the citer?
The charge was heard last Tuesday by Nigel Hampton QC, a highly-respected Kiwi legal eagle, who for some unknown reason held his decision over until Wednesday.
Then Hampton came out with a two-week suspension which meant Hooper would miss the All Black clash.
But thanks to his clean record, the two-week ban was cut in half and Hooper could use the Manly-Randwick club game last Saturday as his week’s suspension.
“No, no, no,” said someone in SANZAR, the punishment wasn’t severe enough, so back for a third hearing yesterday on a farcical citing in the first place.
To cloud the issue, the ARU counter challenged SANZAR on the grounds Hooper should never have been cited.
Both SANZAR and the ARU challenges were thrown out, leaving Hooper – at long last – free to play the men in black.
Who cited Hooper in the first place, who challenged the one-week suspension, and who heard the two challengers last night?
Rugby administrators are past masters at the cloak and dagger business, they have been doing it for at least 50 years I know of.
But the culprits must be named.
The only way to clear the air that doesn’t pass the sniff test is for SANZAR chief exec Greg Peters to name the instigators and keep doing so for any other citings in the future.
If Peters can’t, or won’t, name those involved, then butt out altogether SANZAR until you can be transparent.
The cloak and dagger days should have gone out with cravats and bell-bottom trousers.