England player sent off for ‘disgraceful headbutt’ at world champs

Seb Kelly is facing a long spell on the sidelines after the England under-20s flanker was sent off in disgrace for a headbutt on Tuesday (AEST).

England were leading South Africa 17-7 after 31 minutes in the World Rugby Junior World Championship semi-final when Kelly saw red in Tblisi, Georgia.

Seb Kelly is facing a long spell on the sidelines after the England under-20s flanker was sent off in disgrace. Stan

The Sale Sharks prospect blatantly, and inexplicably, headbutted Luan Giliomee after he had pinned the Junior Springboks fullback on the Avchala Stadium pitch.

The initial yellow card was soon upgraded to red and South Africa ran away to a 53-37 victory to set up a date with France in the final.

The Telegraph’s Daniel Schofield described Kelly’s act as “vicious” while The Sunday Times’ Stephen Jones teed off on X.

“England were so brave in adversity after the sending-off of Seb Kelly for a disgraceful headbutt but the final score of 53-37 does no justice to the Baby Boks’ vast superiority and their sheer talent behind the scrum,” Jones wrote.

“England were easily second best, the headbutt was quite appalling, but no way did it change the result.”

The Junior Springboks are coached by former Melbourne Rebels mentor Kevin Foote, who returned home to South Africa after the Super Rugby club’s demise.

Kelly’s red card continued a bad run of rugby players behaving badly.

Italy lock Niccolo Cannone was also sent off for a headbutt on New Zealand halfback Cam Roigard in the All Blacks’ 47-17 Nations Championship win in Wellington on Saturday.

Cannone will miss Italy’s clash with the Wallabies in Perth this weekend after being slapped with a four-game ban.

“The Foul Play Review Committee has found Italy lock Niccolo Cannone guilty of physical abuse,” a tournament statement said.

“The FPRC determined that the act of foul play merited a low-end entry point of six weeks/matches.

“In light of Cannone’s acceptance that he committed an act of foul play worthy of ordering off, as well as mitigating factors such as his disciplinary record, conduct, and remorse, the FPRC applied a two-week reduction to the sanction.”

And Junior Wallabies star Treyvon Pritchard broke his leg in a hip-drop tackle in the 38-36 loss to Wales in the under-20 world champs on Monday (AEST).

One of the best players at the tournament, Pritchard was screaming in pain and also suffered a syndesmosis injury while being tackled by Wales halfback Sion Davies.

Hip-drop tackles are not explicitly banned by World Rugby.