Vito Kolelishvili was extremely fortunate not to be sent off for this.
Ospreys secured an impressive 21-13 win over Clermont at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night to give them hope of reaching the Champions Cup knock-out stages.
The Welsh side had substitute Sam Davies and inspirational captain Alun Wyn Jones to thank for for the victory but most fans were talking about the shove on referee Wayne Barnes.
The English referee was briefly stunned after being pushed by Clermont’s Vito Kolelishvili at the side of a ruck.
The Georgian was unhappy as he felt Barnes was obstructing play with the Ospreys primed to attack, and so stepped offside to give him a forceful push.
Get out of my way! @ASMOfficiel's Vito Kolelishvili shoves ref Wayne Barnes and gets away with it! #ChampionsCup https://t.co/KEDCGS1YNc
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) January 15, 2016
Kolelishvili received a talking to but amazingly escaped a card. He did concede a penalty, which Dan Biggar knocked over.
The forward was hit with a 24-week ban. Of course rugby being rugby means that wasn’t the final sentence, as the ban was then increased to 26 weeks only to be reduced to 14 weeks after his contrition and good behaviour at the hearing was taken into account.
All told, it means Koleshvili will not be back on a rugby pitch until late April.
https://twitter.com/deej110994/status/688090393485926405
