‘16th player’ Byrne banned for Wales opener

WALES star Lee Byrne has been banned from the RBS Six Nations opener against England at Twickenham next week.

Byrne must serve a two-week suspension after he admitted 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 yesterday, fined the Ospreys €25,000 after they also pleaded guilty to a misconduct complaint.

But the disciplinary panel ruled there had been “no material effect on the match”. The result therefore stands, and Ospreys will meet Biarritz in this season’s Heineken Cup quarter-finals on April 10.

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.

But Tigers’ hopes for the game to be replayed have been dashed.

Byrne, who went off with a bloodied toe and was replaced by Sonny Parker, returned three minutes later without any of his team-mates going off. Chaos reigned on the touchline, with 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 scrum-half Ben Youngs as Tigers looked to claw back a 17-12 deficit.

Fly-half 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 Mr Byrne had re-entered the pitch without the referee’s permission and he knew, or ought to have known, he needed that permission.

“The committee found that this represented a clear breach of the substitution protocol, and that the club could have done more to ensure that such a breach did not occur.”

“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 €25,000 on the Ospreys and suspended Mr Byrne from playing rugby for a period of two weeks.”

Byrne, the Ospreys and ERC, whose disciplinary officer Roger O’Connor brought the misconduct complaints, have the right to appeal, but Leicester do not have right to appeal.

The ban is a hammer blow to Wales boss Warren Gatland, who was expected to name British and Irish Lion Byrne in his side to face England in seven days.

Gatland is due to name his team tomorrow 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 has little option other than to retain James Hook as the last line of defence.

Byrne will be eligible to play in Wales’ second Six Nations game, against Scotland in Cardiff, the following Saturday. He will remain with the squad at their training base as a possible appeal is considered.