England could be set to appeal former Hawks director Lorne Crerar's decison to ban Phil Vickery for four weeks

Vickery ban another setback for England

HENRY McCALL September 12 2007
CommentPhil Vickery, the England captain, will miss his side's two most important pool matches against South Africa and Samoa after he was banned yesterday for two games for tripping United States centre Paul Emerick last Saturday.

Vickery was cited after the incident, which went unoticed by the referee, in the first half of England's opening Pool A 28-10 victory.

He was accompanied by England's legal representative Richard Smith for the Paris hearing before Lorne Crerar, the World Cup-appointed judicial officer (JO) Vickery claimed that the trip had been accidental and Emerick also said he did not believe there had been any malice. However, after a three-hour hearing, World Cup officials issued a statement saying: "The JO deemed the trip was a deliberate act and was delivered with some force, causing the opposing player to be knocked over."

The JO took into account several mitigating circumstances including the immediate admission of culpability, the player's good character and his conduct during the hearing.

"The entry point for a mid- range offence is four weeks. In light of the mitigating factors the JO imposed a sanction of two matches," the statement said.

The ban means Vickery will miss Friday's match against South Africa at the Stade de France and the game against Samoa in Nantes on September 22.

England said they would consider lodging an appeal and have 48 hours to do so.

Earlier, Vickery was named in the team for Friday's game but his place will now be taken by Matt Stevens, with Perry Freshwater joining the replacements. Brian Ashton, the coach, said he had yet to decide who would take over the captaincy though the job will probably go to one of three former captains in the starting team, Jason Robinson, Martin Corry or Mike Catt.

Yesterday's decision is a further blow to Ashton who has been hit by a spate of illness and injury in the squad. Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson is still suffering with an ankle ligament strain and his replacement on Saturday, Olly Barkley, strained a hip flexor yesterday and is awaiting the results of a scan. Backs Mathew Tait and Dan Hipkiss have both been in isolation since the weekend with illness.

This article was originally posted on 12-Sep-2007, 21:39 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 12-Sep-2007, 21:47.