Castres have faced belated justice for their transgressions against Munster in Saturday's Champions Cup. Following two citings, European Professional Club Rugby have confirmed both Rory Kockott and Marc-Antoine Railler have been suspended.
Kockott has been given a three-week ban for gouging Chris Cloete, a verdict reduced by a week owing to Kockett's pleading guilty and good conduct at his hearing. EPCR also confirmed that Kockott should have been sent off for the incident, of little consolation to Munster presently. At the time, Munster asked Wayne Barnes to review the incident, only for the referee to wave away their appeals and stress it was an incident for the citing commissioner. This verdict confirms it was first an issue for Barnes, but it was ignored.
Elsewhere, Railler has been given a one-week ban for an off-the-ball tackle on Peter O'Mahony. Again, Railler's pleading guilty and good conduct had the ban halved. Once again, EPCR confirmed that Barnes should have sent off Railler; a remarkable error from Barnes given that the incident was reviewed by the TMO.
