Sivivatu handed NZRU warning

MELBOURNE: New Zealand winger Sitiveni Sivivatu has been found guilty of serious misconduct after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) said yesterday.

The 25-year-old Fijian-born Sivivatu, capped 12 times by the All Blacks, was reprimanded by the NZRU in a conduct appraisal after a Hamilton court discharged him without conviction last month following the assault.

“The formal warning puts him on notice that we take the matter very seriously while the requirement for counselling is to help Siti work to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” NZRU deputy chief executive Steve Tew said in a statement.

“Clearly, we are very concerned when incidents such as these occur which is why we have processes in place to deal with them.

“At the same time, our major concern is that our employees and their families – in this case Sitiveni and his wife – have access to the support and help they need to deal with these issues,” Tew added. – Reuters