PETER JACKSON looks at the saints and sinners from Europe's three main leagues
For the first time in 15 years, Connacht will open for business next season without one of the most permanent fixtures anywhere in the European club game – John Muldoon.
The PRO14 title may have gone before him but in renewing forces with the chief architect of that improbable success, Pat Lam, at Bristol next season, Ireland's occasional No.8 leaves behind a disciplinary record second to none. Of the 40 clubs across Europe's three main Leagues, Connacht stand alone as the only one not to have had a player sent off in any of the last four seasons.
Another Irish province, Ulster, finished with the fewest yellows, ironically so in view of a season as much troubled by off-field events as on it. Over the course of the whole campaign their players were to be found in the bin on only six occasions. Castres had almost as many there in one afternoon. Red cards and proven citings, i.e. restrospective red cards for offences missed by the officials, fell below last season's figures: 48 against 56 for players sent from the field of play, 53 against 57 for citings that resulted in suspensions.
Inevitably, the Top 14 accounted for the majority in both categories, inevitable if only for the fact that they theirs is a 26-match League against 22 in the Aviva Premiership and 21 in the PRO14. A further break-down of the figures highlights a glaring gap which cannot be explained by simple reference to the number of matches played.
Of the 53 proven citings across all three competitions, only three applied to the PRO14. In other words they accounted for barely five per cent of the total, a strangely low figure by any criteria. The Aviva Premiership's total of proven citings amounted to more than five times as many, 16.
At face value it might suggest that the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Italian and South African teams involved are more disciplined. It might also suggest that their officials see more than their counterparts in England and France and therefore leave the citing commissioner with less to cite.
That they saw fit to cite so few could also raise questions as to whether PRO14 referees are as strict on foul play as they are elsewhere, unlikely given that many operate at the highest level as international officials of some repute.
Whatever the reason, the anomaly needs some explaining. How can citing commissioners, all bound by the same rule book, come up with so many proven cases for a disciplinary tribunal in one country and so few in another?
The Top 14 imposed retrospective punishment on 34 players which, compared to the PRO14, could be construed, or misconstrued, to mean that those in France are eleven times more likely to be brought before the beak than those in what used to be the Celtic League.
Below is The Rugby Paper's exclusive European fair play table, club by club. Figures in brackets indicate the number of games each club played during the season. The Citing Commissioner warnings, for offences deemed to have fallen just short of a red card, have been added to the list of yellows. The points system is based on three points for every red card and citing proven (CP), one for every yellow.
