Board decides Kailea can play

30th July 2010

Western Sharks' Ualosi Kailea will play in tomorrow's Premier Division final after his red card was deemed to be a sufficient penalty by a Northland Rugby Union disciplinary hearing on Monday night.

Kailea and Hora Hora's Riley Dunn were sent off during last week's semifinal after the game erupted into violence in the first spell, resulting in players from both sides throwing punches and brawling on the pitch.

Seven other yellow cards were handed out after the incident which left just 21 players on the park.

The committee also decided to ban Sharks and Northland representative winger Mateo Malupo for two games and he will miss this week's final against Mid Northern.

Malupo was on the bench at the time and ran on the pitch looking to enter the fray. He was not carded but he was later cited by Hora Hora for a code of conduct violation.

Northland rugby referees' boss Gordon Goodhew  said match referee Marius Botha's performance was "very good" in the difficult situation, despite him handing out what could be a record number of cards in a game.

"I have every confidence in the referee. The referee filed a report and that went to the NRU for consideration," he said.

"He had two touch judges to assist him and they would have had input into the cards."

Referees won't stand for  situations where two players are having a disagreement and other players rush from elsewhere on the field to get involved in it.

"We can't condone people rushing into a disturbance like that," Mr Goodhew said.