Yoann Maestri has today been given his punishment having recently been made aware that the Six Nations top brass were investigating a misconduct charge after the French lock made comments about referee Wayne Barnes.
The comments came following the farcical end to France vs Wales, where Maestri expressed his belief that English referees think the French players are cheats.
Anglo-Saxon referees always talk about fair play but the reality is that they think we’re cheats.
A statement released by the Six Nations today confirmed that Maestri accepted the charge, and have ordered him to pay a fine of €30,000.
Maestri accepted that he had committed an act of misconduct and openly apologised for making the comments. A fine of €30,000 has been imposed on Mr Maestri, with one half (€15,000) payable within 30 days, and one half (€15,000) suspended until the end of the 2017/18 season.
That seems very harsh for what was said, although Maestri's comments weren't exactly the smartesy thing to say as all the fuss over their alleged abuse of the HIA system to get their strongest scrummager back on the field emerged after the game.
The message here is; Don't saying anything about refs. We imagine if the Six Nations brass could find the everyday fan for what they post on their Twitter account, a lot of you would be getting a letter in the post.
[via Sky Sports]
