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Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen banned for elbow strike
By PA
Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen has received a four-week suspension after he was sent off during their Gallagher Premiership victory over Gloucester.
Esterhuizen was dismissed early in the second half of last Sunday’s game for striking Gloucester fly-half Lloyd Evans, who failed a subsequent head injury assessment, in the face with his elbow.
The Rugby Football Union said that Esterhuizen accepted the charge and he was suspended by a three-man independent panel.
It means that he will miss Quins’ Heineken Champions Cup games against Munster and Racing 92, plus Premiership appointments with Bristol and Worcester, and can play again on January 5.
Exeter scrum-half Stu Townsend, meanwhile, has been banned for five weeks following a citing for dangerous play in a ruck or maul.
Townsend accepted the charge, which arose from Exeter’s Premiership match against Leicester four days ago.
Townsend’s shoulder made contact with the head of Leicester wing Harry Simmons.
Simmons sustained concussion, which was diagnosed in the days following the game after he displayed fresh symptoms at a training session.
The panel’s suspension sidelines Townsend from Champions Cup fixtures against Glasgow and Toulouse, and Premiership games against Gloucester, Wasps and Bristol. He can return to action on January 12.
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Latest Comments
It sounds like Andrew is trying to convince himself or has just lost all perspective. The team did look jaded for the last couple of games of the six nations but a few things were wrong there. Italy tackled their hearts out and made Ireland work hard for every try. Outsmarted by Scotland? Huh? Ireland got held up over the line about 4 times. Scotland did nothing on attack the whole game other than one breakaway near the end. A recharge and reset is needed which they hopefully will have had before the SA your.
Go to commentsIncluding SA and Argie teams was great for the quality of rugby, but middle of the night games and player travel/ jet lag make that unworkable. I think that SA in Europe and Argie building an American league with USA, Canada etc would be better long term. If Oz can't sustain Rebels then next cab off the rank should be a Japanese team. Keep regional comps to time zones, both club and test rugby. Then existing test windows for test tours plus RWC.
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