A Fairfax Media judicial hearing has found SANZAR guilty of contravening the basic principles of open justice, after a series of decisions with no obvious pattern.

In its finding, the Breakdown ruled the following: We found SANZAR's body of work met the red-card threshold for inscrutable play and has a lower end entry point for breaching the good faith of rugby fans, coaches and players alike, which stipulates a four-week suspension.

A further three weeks is added for repeated infringements this season; four weeks is removed for SANZAR's noble intention to protect the safety of players and the reputation of the game on the world stage; three weeks is added for deterrence, and one week is added, well, because we can.

Sigh. Another week and another perplexing SANZAR penalty, wrapped heavily in legalese, but with an ultimately arbitrary outcome. The Brumbies are appealing Henry Speight's five-week ban for the Test winger's dangerous tackle on Stormers centre Juan de Jongh. There will be no joy, if precedent is anything to go by, and therein lies the problem.

This is not a criticism of SANZAR's objective to rid rugby of dangerous play. As Brumbies boss Michael Jones and SANZAR chief Greg Peters said on Thursday, no one wants to witness a tragedy on the scale of rugby league players Alex McKinnon or James Ackerman. But the administrative body has a credibility problem. The game and its fans deserve a better process. For starters, let's start talking in games, not weeks. Judicial officer Robert Stelzner used a 4 + 2 – 2 rationale to arrive at a four-week ban. But as it isn't the weeks they're interested in but a "meaningful sanction", the penalty was increased to five weeks, to rule Speight out of four games.

Then there's the matter of deterrence, which meant, for the majority of this season, one week. A few weeks ago that was upped to two weeks in the case of Tolu Latu and used against Rob Horne, then again this week against Speight. There is nothing wrong with the principle, but its application should be predictable and not subject to change without warning or justification. Yet there was no explanation in any of these cases as to why the deterrence penalty was increased. SANZAR game manager Lyndon Bray declined to offer an explanation when contacted by Fairfax Media after the Latu incident. In fact, there is nothing written in any SANZAR or World Rugby policy document or rule book guiding its application. Of course the Brumbies could have avoided this altogether if Jones had called his NSW counterpart Greg Harris, or Bernie had shot off a text to his mate, Cheik. The likely response? "Take a plea, son. No matter how good your legal argument."

In this aspect SANZAR has been consistent. If you make anything resembling a dangerous tackle, you will be suspended, no matter the case you mount regarding the tackle's status under the relevant law, 10.4 (j). In that case, take an early plea. If you dare to defend yourself, you face a longer ban. The Waratahs and Brumbies have both learnt the hard way what it costs to challenge SANZAR.

Again SANZAR is right to follow World Rugby edicts on foul play. Speight dropped de Jongh on his head and deserves a ban. But that's where the clarity ends, as SANZAR's administration of justice falls well short of the mark.

Burgess' learning curve

England's World Cup train-on squad are settling into Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surry with an interloper in their midst. League convert Sam Burgess has again spoken candidly about his growing pains in rugby, telling London's Telegraph newspaper: "Certainly my respect for the game since coming and playing it has grown a lot.

"I just didn't understand it; the specific roles that people have. The front rowers, the work they get through and what they have to do of a weekend is unbelievable. Then the lineouts ... the amount of detail and practise, everything that goes into winning a lineout. It's a fine art. My view of the game has changed in that respect. There are many more specialist players [in rugby] ... whereas in league, there are specialist positions but everyone across the board can do everyone else's positions, basically."

Sharpe joins Ten team

Great news for free-to-air viewers, with former Wallabies captain Nathan Sharpe joining the Ten commentary line-up for the Rugby Championship. Sharpe will join Matt Burke, Gordon Bray, Matt White and Scott Mackinnon on Ten's live broadcast of the Wallabies' four Tests.