QUEANBEYAN Whites club president David Jones says the ACT Brumbies judiciary did the right thing in "coming down hard" on a Wests Lions player accused of assaulting a Queanbeyan Whites player and mistreating a referee last Saturday.
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The parents of 20-year old Adam Res pressed charges with police against the Lions player following the incident where their son was allegedly assaulted during the fourth grade rugby union match at Campese Field.
The player was hit with a four year ban from the sport at the judiciary on Wednesday night, after he allegedly received a yellow card during the match for clashing heads with a Whites player, and then wiped blood on referee Robert Boyes' jersey.
Boyes then sent him from the field for the rest of the match, before he walked past the Whites team as they were huddled, and committed a one-punch attack on Res.
Queanbeyan Police confirmed they were still investigating the matter reported to them, but had not laid any charges yet.
Res suffered a broken nose and two black eyes, and were awaiting results of a medical report to discover the severity of his injuries.
It is not yet known how long his recovery will take.
"It's a great shame," said Jones.
"It's very rare for the police to be involved in a local rugby match, so we need to make sure this does not happen again."
Res had just returned to playing again from injury.
Boyes, also ACT Rugby Union Referee's Association president, labelled the match as an intense affair, but was more objective towards the Wests player in question, who was reportedly concussed after a maul in the ruck during the match.
"There may be things that I don't know about that led him to do what he did," said Boyes.
"The referees association will abide by the punishment handed down by the judiciary."
However he did say referees do not condone, under any circumstance, any abuse towards them and unnecessary physical contact with other players.
"It's a sport. We shouldn't be getting police involved, however, there is a line between something that happens on the sporting field and an assault," he said.
Queanbeyan won the game 22-14.