Rugby: Kiwis reprimanded for brawl, Vunibaka banned

9.30 am

The New Zealand rugby sevens team have escaped with a severe reprimand for their part in an ugly all-in brawl with Fiji at last weekend's round of the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Series circuit in Chile.

Fearing they could be fined, lose competition points or even be suspended from the series by the IRB for misconduct, New Zealand were simply cautioned and "severely reprimanded" by an IRB judicial hearing.

Fiji was censured for fighting with Samoa earlier in the tournament, and will lose the 12 competition points gained at Santiago if they commit a similar offence during the remainder of the series.

However, Fiji's Canterbury and Crusaders wing Marika Vunibaka was banned from all rugby for 12 weeks after being cited for punching Amasio Valence.

The blow ignited a free-for-all soon after the final whistle of Sunday's semifinal, won by New Zealand 19-17.

The ban, which expires on March 31, effectively means Vunibaka will miss the Crusaders' first five matches of the Super 12 campaign.

Vunibaka's ban is the maximum allowed under the tournament procedures and will effectively rule the wing out of the next five rounds of the sevens tournament had he not had Super 12 commitments.

The judicial hearing, headed by Chilean lawyer Mario Torres Skarpa, first considered punishments for the teams on Monday with lengthy deliberations only concluding yesterday.

The teams are now in Argentina preparing for the third leg of the tournament in Mar del Plata this weekend.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union were relieved at the outcome today with chief executive David Rutherford reiterating the team had been told by the union and management their conduct was unacceptable.

"Everyone understands how bad the incident was," he said.

Rutherford admitted Chris Masoe, who stomped on a Fijian player, was lucky not to be cited but added the NZRFU could not take any action against the player because he was not brought before the judiciary.

New Zealand, the reigning title holders, lead the standings with 40 points ahead of Samoa and South Africa who are tied for second on 24.

New Zealand have won the first two rounds.

The IRB also issued a directive to all unions, teams and players that misconduct will not be tolerated. It will also review the tournament's independent judicial process and consider the possible introduction of stiffer penalties.

The incident will not affect the New Zealand team's chances of winning the sports team of the year award at next month's Halberg Awards.

Halberg Trust executive director Dave Currie said the fight "was obviously a bit nasty" but the awards were judged on the last calendar year.

"The awards are about performance and how people conduct themselves, but it would have to be extraordinarily serious and pretty grim to have an impact on the awards," he said.

The sevens team is up against the women's double and quadruple scull rowing team plus the Tall Blacks men's basketball team.

- NZPA