Why Konrad Hurrell escaped ban despite “punching” citation

After the final game of the series at the home of Leeds Rhinos, the disciplinary for England vs Tonga has been released by the Rugby Football League.

The RFL were asked to manage the disciplinary of the series with it being based in the UK. However, they added a Tongan representative to their disciplinary panel to ensure for a fair and unbiased look at the incidents in question.

Despite the fact the RFL were in charge of the disciplinary process they still have to follow the guidelines from the IRL. This means that Grade A offences were punished differently to what we see in Super League.

Ahead of the 2023 season, the RFL pivoted to a new system after complaints over the number of bans handed out in recent years. Instead they placed a focus on fines instead. This means that Grade A charges are often unpunished and in cases where they are – due to prior records – they yield only fines.

This means to get a ban, you at the least have to be guilty of a Grade B offence and have a prior record otherwise it will be a fine. Those with a clear record would require a Grade C offence to pick up a suspension in most cases.

This, however, is not the case in internationals with the RFL confirming that Grade A offences carry a one match ban that can be appealed at an Operational Rules Tribunal. However, only one Super League player was hit with a ban and that was St Helens star Matty Lees for the hair pulling offence that saw him sin binned against Tonga on Saturday.

His St Helens teammate Konrad Hurrell meanwhile has escaped suspension despite being sin binned for Tonga in the second half for his swinging arm in the tackle which looked like it could have been a series of punches.

Footage seemed to show that his palm was open and therefore the yellow card was the right call. The disciplinary panel have cited him for the offence of “punching” but he has avoided punishment.

The RFL have outlined the following reasons as to why: “Player swings arm but does not throw a punch or contact the head of the opponent.”

This means Hurrell will be available throughout pre-season whilst Lees will likely miss the first pre-season friendly St Helens arrange ahead of the 2024 season.