Bath head coach Johann van Graan was left fuming after Harlequins lock Irne Herbst spent just seven minutes in the sin bin in their Premiership thriller on Saturday.
Harlequins held on to claim a 40-36 victory over Bath after leading 40-3 in the second half at Twickenham Stoop.
However, there was some controversy when South African lock Herbst was yellow carded by referee Anthony Woodthorpe in the 63rd minute, only to return to the field after seven minutes, rather than the required 10 minutes.
“I flagged it with the referee after the game,” Bath’s South African head coach Van Graan reacted.
“There’s not a lot he can do. On the pitch he wasn’t even aware of it. We went through our team manager and made the fourth official aware. On a yellow card, you’re supposed to be off for 10 minutes, not seven.”
Behind the scenes, Bath have been left far more incensed than Van Graan’s comments reveal.
According to the Telegraph, the club will launch an official complaint and demand an explanation from both the RFU and Premiership Rugby.
Neither body has commented about the incident and it is not clear what the punishment would be if Harlequins were to be found guilty of infringing the rules.
Photo: Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images
The post Bath demand answers over seven-minute sin bin appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
