Kobus van Wyk has been banned for four weeks following his red card in the match between Leicester Tigers and Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park on Saturday.
The Tigers wing was shown a red card by referee Jack Makepeace in the 14th minute of the game for a dangerous tackle, contrary to World Rugby Law 9.13 .
The player accepted the charge and was handed a four-week suspension by an independent disciplinary panel comprising Philip Evans QC (chair), Tony Wheat and Rob Vickerman.
The disciplinary panel statement said: “The player accepted the charge of dangerous tackling. The panel did not find the player's actions to be intentional but did conclude the offence warranted a mid-range entry point of six weeks. There were no aggravating features to the offence.
“The player accepted the charge and was able to put other significant mitigation before the panel but he had a recent offence on his record from 2020 and therefore the maximum the panel concluded it was able to reduce the starting point by was two weeks.”
Van Wyk is free to play again on April 27.
At the same hearing, Gloucester’s Matt Banahan was handed a three-week suspension following a red card against Harlequins on Saturday for a dangerous tackle as the panel concluded that this offence “just remained within the mid-range entry point” for sanction. The player had no offences recorded for a significant period, pleaded guilty and presented other positive mitigation.
