Munster’s Andrew Conway will be free to play against South Africa, should Ireland require his services, after he was red carded and suspended for one week for a late tackle against Connacht. Ireland face the Springboks in Dublin on November 11th.
Conway went up for a high ball but came down and caught opposition flyhalf Jack Carty with the shoulder, in what looked like an unfortunate collission but according to the laws, was a red card.
Referee Nigel Owens had a good look at it before sending Conway off under Law 10.4 (o) Late-charging the kicker: A player must not intentionally charge or obstruct an opponent who has just kicked the ball.
A Disciplinary Panel convened in Edinburgh, Scotland to consider the red card decision.
The Disciplinary Panel, comprising of Roddy MacLeod (Chair), Frank Hadden and Ian Douglas (all Scotland), concluded that Conway’s actions merited a low-end range sanction point of two weeks.
The determining factor for the Panel in making this decision was the presence of a second Munster player, Peter O’Mahony, in the incident. They felt that O’Mahony influenced the positioning of Carty.
Due to these circumstances the Panel came to a majority decision that the offence merited a low-end sanction point. The Panel also took into account that proceedings under Law 10.4 (o) had not previously come before a Disciplinary Panel and therefore they had no precedents to reference.
Once the low-end entry point had been established by the Panel, full mitigation of 50 per cent (one week) was applied due to the player’s previous good record and his acceptance of a red-card offence.
Conway was therefore suspended for one week and can return to play from November 6.
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