Quesada's ban halved to one match after disciplinary hearing over referee criticism

Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada will serve a one-match ban after an independent disciplinary committee reduced his original two-match suspension, World Rugby confirmed. The sanction stems from comments Quesada made about referee Luc Ramos following Italy’s Nations Championship defeat to New Zealand, in which he called the French official “super poor” and implied the margin of the loss was inflated by the officiating.

Quesada was initially handed an automatic two-match ban under World Rugby’s Match Official Abuse Sanction Process, a framework introduced specifically to address public criticism of referees. He exercised his right to refer the case to an independent panel for a full de novo hearing rather than accept the automatic sanction.

The three-person committee — comprising Jennifer Donovan (Ireland), Wang Shao-Ing (Singapore) and Valeriu Toma (Romania) — determined that the threshold for misconduct had been met. However, after weighing mitigating factors, including a private written apology Quesada sent to the referee and his acknowledgement that his comments fell short of the standard expected of someone in his position, the panel settled on a reduced one-match ban alongside a formal warning as to future conduct and a requirement for a public apology.

“The committee determined that a one-match suspension was appropriate along with a public apology and a formal warning as to future conduct,” World Rugby’s statement read.

The suspension takes immediate effect, meaning the former Argentina international will be absent from the touchline when Italy face Australia in Perth on 18 July.