Labuschagne escapes with 23-day ban for tackle on Wilkinson

Rudolf Straeuli and his humiliated Springboks have spent the last three days insisting they are misunderstood rather than maliciously malevolent, and rugby's disciplinarians have gone a considerable way towards supporting them in that view. Jannes Labuschagne, the hulking lock forward from Bloemhof who was sent off during the first half of Saturday's rough-house match with England at Twickenham for late-tackling Jonny Wilkinson, has been banned for 23 days. Werner Greeff, cited after the game for a high hit on Phil Christophers, was not banned at all.

Labuschagne's offence, committed in such splendid isolation that he could hardly have entered a not guilty plea at yesterday's video-link hearing, carries a maximum suspension of eight weeks. The fact that he will miss only the first three rounds of next year's Super 12 provincial tournament, which begins in late February, suggests that the panel, convened under the aegis of the Six Nations Committee and chaired by Neil Bidder QC of Wales, did not consider his crime to be especially heinous.

The decision not to impose any further punishment on Greeff – Paddy O'Brien, the New Zealand referee, awarded England a penalty try following the tackle on Christophers – is very much a vote for common sense.

The 25-year-old full-back certainly caught Christophers around the neck, but he was racing across field on a covering angle and reacted instinctively as the Bristol wing cut inside close to the line. It remains a mystery why Paul Mauriac of France, the independent citing commissioner, put the finger on Greeff, who had already been dealt with by O'Brien, rather than those of his colleagues who clattered sundry Englishmen with cheap-shot tackles off the ball.

England's next meeting with the South Africans will be in a seven-a-side capacity next month. Twickenham's short-game supremo, Joe Lydon, has named a 12-man squad for the World Series tournaments in George and Dubai, under the captaincy of Simon Amor, the Gloucester back who competed at the Commonwealth Games in August. Three fellow members of that party – Paul Sampson of Wasps, Rob Thirlby of Bath and Ben Gollings of Harlequins – are again involved, but many of the most accomplished sevens acts are missing, including Henry Paul, Josh Lewsey and Phil Greening.

Just at the moment, Greening has other things on his mind. Lawyers for Aurélien Rougerie, the French international wing, are seeking compensation from the former England hooker in respect of an injury suffered by Rougerie in a collision between the two during a Montferrand-Wasps pre-season friendly in the summer. Rougerie suffered a throat injury that required two operations, and has only just resumed training with his club.

According to the Frenchman's legal advisors, court action is being taken to establish the precise level of compensation Rougerie might expect. They say that once a figure is reached, prompt payment by either Greening or Wasps will bring the matter to a close. Wasps, meanwhile, insist there was no malicious intent on the part of their player, who was in possession of the ball at the moment of impact.

Mike Catt, Bath's most experienced player and an outside bet for England's Six Nations squad in the new year, faces a month of enforced rest after failing to recover from a hamstring problem directly related to a back injury which he has been suffering with for two years. The midfielder may play in Friday night's Premiership match at Sale, but will definitely miss the West Country club's Parker Pen Challenge Cup matches with Bridgend and a Powergen Cup sixth round tie shortly before Christmas.