Vodacom Bulls hooker Schalk Brits says Sanzaar needs to reassess their judicial system as he gets set to make his return from a four-match ban against the Crusaders.
Brits was handed a four-match suspension after a failed appeal following his red card against the Sharks earlier this season. He was involved in a scuffle with opposite number Akker van der Merwe that included a few punches.
While it appeared Brits had been more on the receiving end in the scuffle, Sanzaar applied a somewhat heavier sanction on Brits, reasoning that he was also previously sanctioned for striking offences playing for Premiership side Saracens.
‘I think going forward there needs to be changes made as to how they apply rules,’ Brits told the media on Tuesday. ‘Sometimes you feel that‚ “How can a guy in Australia get two weeks and a guy in South Africa get four weeks?”
’As a rugby player I feel that we get the short end of the stick a lot of times in South Africa. I really think they need to reassess the process.
‘You are penalising me for a record that I got four years ago. Do I think that is fair? Maybe not‚ but it happened and I can’t do anything about it now. But I did ask them to have a proper look at it.
‘Rugby is a fair game and if you look at the incident from beginning to the end‚ their outcome should not have been what it was – but I made peace with it quickly.’
Brits will make his return to the field against the Crusaders in Pretoria on Friday, having been included in the Bulls’ starting lineup.
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo
