Coastal Sharks fly half Butch James was suspended for 4 weeks after making a dangerous tackle in a Super 15 match this weekend. James, part of the 2007 South Africa Rugby World Cup winning team, plead guilty and was barred from rugby until 5th August. However, the impact on the Sharks will be minimal as they failed to reach the knockout stages of the Southern hemisphere provincial championship. This means they have only 1 league fixture left this season - at home to fellow South Africans Southern Kings in the Indian Ocean city of Durban next Saturday. James was punished for an incident after 70 minutes of a match against Northern Bulls, who won 20-19 in Pretoria to become leaders of the combined standings. The 34 year old with a career long reputation for being short tempered, made a high, reckless challenge on Bulls replacement back Jurgen Visser.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 21:19:47 +0000