Force lock cleared
2 Apr 2012
Western Force lock Phoenix Battye has been found not guilty of foul play in last Saturday’s game against the Reds.
The incident occurred in the 75th minute of the match in in Perth. The citing commissioner suggested that Battye had made a dangerous tackle and promptly cited the player after the game.
Battye has since been cleared by a Sanzar judiciary. In considering the matter, new evidence was presented by the Force that was not available to the citing commissioner. This evidence showed that despite Battye lifting Reds scrumhalf Will Genia, he neither dropped nor drove Genia’s head or upper body into the ground.
The evidence demonstrated in fact he was protecting the player by bracing himself with his arms and knees so as to prevent the potential for injury to the player. In the end the tackle could not be seen as dangerous as required by the law for the citing to be upheld.
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