Mujati missing for six weeks

Saints prop hit with six-week ban for pushing referee

Last updated: 3rd November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Mujati missing for six weeks

Mujati: Six-week suspension

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Northampton prop Brian Mujati has been banned for six weeks for his push on referee Nigel Owens during a Heineken Cup game.

South African forward Mujati was cited after the incident, in which he pushed referee Owens in the back during the Heineken Cup match against Perpignan last month.

Saints lost to Perpignan in France last month and they have received more bad news from the fixture as a result of Mujati's suspension.

Mujati is suspended until December 2, ruling him out of Northampton's opening two LV= Cup games against the Ospreys and Saracens, plus Guinness Premiership appointments with Harlequins and Newcastle.

Independent judicial officer Rod McKenzie decided Mujati was guilty of an act contrary to good sportsmanship, although he also determined it was low-end in terms of its seriousness for an offence of physical abuse of a match official.

McKenzie accepted there were "compelling and exceptional mitigating factors" in that Mujati was suffering from concussion when the offence occurred.

And the judicial officer made a 75% reduction from the recommended entry point - a 24-week suspension - for a low-end physical abuse of a match official offence.