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A “please explain” will be issued by the Queensland Rugby Union to SANZAR after they claimed the late arrival of key documents forced them to abort appealing Quade Cooper’s ban.
And Cooper backed the QRU to pursue the governing body over what he believed were judicial inconsistencies after being forced to watch the Reds’ sudden death finals clash with the Sharks on Saturday night from the Suncorp Stadium stands.
“It is a major issue from a player point of view. When you get so much inconsistencies in different calls and rulings – the players don’t know where to sit,” Cooper told Fox Sports’ The Rugby Club on Thursday night.
“I am happy to sit back in the background and let the QRU try and work a strategy to fix this problem.
“To see how passionate the club … felt I had been done wrong has been good for my confidence … and I hope something does get worked out.”
Despite Cooper tweeting otherwise, the QRU was still exploring an appeal after requesting a transcript of Monday night’s marathon judicial hearing.
However, the documents did not arrive until midday Thursday.
The QRU believed it had grounds to challenge Cooper’s one match ban for a dangerous tackle on NSW centre Berrick Barnes after reading them.
But it officially pulled the pin an hour before the 8pm AEST appeal deadline on Thursday claiming it had insufficient time.
The QRU had earlier this week complained about a delay in the written judgement’s arrival.
“After fully considering the SANZAR transcript received at midday today, QRU still firmly believes that the tackle in question did not reach the red card threshold at which Cooper was initially cited and therefore did not warrant any further action than the yellow card,” a QRU statement said.
“Also, evidence presented to the video conference over a four-and-a-half hour period, failed to validate the citing commissioner’s claim that Cooper’s tackle initially made contact with Barnes’ head, in QRU’s opinion.
“We initially anticipated we would gain a better understanding of the decision by the Judicial Officer though obtaining the full SANZAR transcripts.
“However, they failed to reveal any further detail or clarification on why the judgement was made and the delay in receiving these documents has made it near impossible to mount an appeal.”
QRU CEO Jim Carmichael said he would formally write to SANZAR “to outline their concerns and seek clarification around a range of points”.
Cooper stood by his Wednesday night tweet that he wanted to abort an appeal in order to not further disturb the Reds’ preparation.
“I definitely don’t want to be a distraction,” he said.
“But at the same time I have full faith in my teammates to get the job done this weekend.”
Ben Lucas is expected to replace Cooper at No.10 when the Reds team is named on Friday.
If the Reds defeat the Sharks on Saturday night, Cooper will be free to play against the Chiefs in Hamilton next week.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.