Chris Hala’ufia banned for five matches after striking Laurence Pearce

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/06/chris-halaufia-laurence-pearce-london-welsh-leicester

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Chris Hala’ufia, the Tongan whose list of previous is almost as long as the clubs for whom he has played, was given a five-week ban on Wednesday after his latest brush with authority. He will sit out London Welsh’s final two games in the Premiership after being sent off against Leicester 12 days ago.

Hala’ufia, who admitted striking the Leicester No 8 Laurence Pearce, will also miss the start of next season, when London Welsh will be in the Championship. It could have been far worse, the maximum sanction being 52 weeks. Hala’ufia’s departure capped a colourful day at Welford Road. Earlier, the 36-year-old former international flanker had stopped a streaker in his tracks and set up the try that gave London Welsh a rare interval lead. However, the game changed with two tries from Pearce in seven minutes and then the Tongan’s tackle 15 minutes into the second half.

With Hala’ufia gone, London Welsh conceded another three tries, losing 38-17 and continuing their 20-game streak towards relegation. The referee Ken Wigglesworth already appeared to be reaching for a yellow card after Hala’ufia’s body charge on the Leicester No 8, but immediately switched to red when Hala’ufia was seen pushing Pearce’s face into the turf.

Since leaving Bradford & Bingley in 2004 after scoring 21 tries to secure the club’s promotion from North 1, Hala’ufia has left a trail of disciplinary hearings in a career that has seen him tour three Premiership clubs – Harlequins, London Irish and London Welsh – the Italian league, the Championship and a short spell with Scarlets in the Pro12.

In January 2010 he received a four-week ban for striking Leo Cullen of Leinster before receiving a three-week ban three months later for a dangerous tackle on Dave Walder of Wasps.

Another fly-half suffered the following year when a dangerous charge on Shane Geraghty, then of Northampton, earned an eight-week lay-off. Eight months later a seven-week ban followed a dangerous tackle on the Gloucester full back Olly Morgan and then Hala’ufia received another 11 weeks for his tackle on the Racing Metro full-back Gaëtan Germain.

The pain that day was not all one way however, Hala’ufia breaking his own arm in the challenge – which meant that the ban was not imposed until March 2012, three months after the offending tackle. In the meantime London Irish, by then his employers, imposed an internal six-week suspension and fine, with money donated to charity. Those efforts did little to ease the eventual ban.

However, it is 17 months since Hala’ufia’s previous disciplinary hearing, when he was suspended for four weeks for a tip tackle on David Seymour of Sale.