Out-of-favour England midfielder Manu Tuilagi banned for red card

Manu Tuilagi has learned his fate following last Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership red card for Sale at Northampton, the out-of-favour England midfield getting a four-game ban for his foul 14th-minute tackle on Tommy Freeman. The 31-year-old had been hoping that a good display for Sale could force him back into the England reckoning.

Tuilagi was in the 29-man squad for both recent Test matches against Scotland and Italy but was surplus to requirement when Steve Borthwick eventually named his 23-man match day squads for those Guinness Six Nations games.

Instead of being included in last week’s fallow week training squad, he returned to Manchester with a view to playing for the Sharks but that plan was destroyed by the Franklin's Gardens red card shown to him by referee Ian Tempest, who said at the time: “Do we have foul play here? Yes, we do because the arm is away from the body. It’s forearm with force, extremely dangerous to the neck area. That’s a red card.”

That sending-off resulted in Tuilagi being omitted from the 36-strong England squad that assembled at Pennyhill to prepare for this weekend’s round three game away to Wales and he has now learned his disciplinary fate.

An RFU statement read: “The case of Manu Tuilagi was heard today [Tuesday] by sole judicial officer Jeremy Summers. Tuilagi received a red card during the game against Northampton for reckless or dangerous play.

“Tuilagi accepted foul play and received a four-match ban. This will be reduced to three weeks if the player completes the World Rugby coaching intervention programme. Tuilagi will miss the following games:

• • Feb 25: vs Exeter Chiefs;
  • Mar 5: vs Saracens;
  • Mar 12: vs London Irish;
  • Apr 1: vs Cardiff Blues - this game will be removed on successful completion of World Rugby coaching intervention programme."

A six-week entry point was initially determined for the offence, reduced to four when mitigation was factored in. Successful completion of tackle school would make Tuilagi available for an England squad return for the final week of the Six Nations, the March 18 round five match against Ireland in Dublin. However, a Test recall is a longshot given that he was unwanted for rounds one and two and will miss now rounds three and four through suspension.

The summary of the evidence presented by Tuilagi at his hearing read: "The player unequivocally accepted the charge stating that he took full responsibility for his actions. His position was that he had mistimed the challenge having misjudged the distance between him and Northampton No14. He had anticipated that N14 would come up faster and effect a dominant hit.

"In preparing for that impact he had intended to execute a lawful fend with his arm tucked close to his body. In this respect, he took the judicial officer to 0:09 on the footage where he had used a lawful fend to defend the tackle from the first defender who had attempted to stop him.

"He accepted that his arm was well away from his body and that he had made contact with N14 that had warranted a red card. The incident had happened in a dynamic situation and he had got his timing wrong. N14 was about two seconds behind where he had thought he would be in making the tackle and he had realised at the time that he had got his action badly wrong.

"He knew N14 well and would not have sought to injure him. He had apologised to N14 as he left the field having been dismissed and spoke with him again after the game. (Sale boss) Alex Sanderson submitted that the offending was clearly not in the player's character as reflected by his record over a long career."

The hearing outcome later read: "The player used his arm with the intention of fending off the oncoming N14. In reaching that finding, the judicial officer accepted the player's evidence and in doing so noted that the player had lawfully effected a similar fend earlier in the play.

"The judicial officer further accepted that the player had not intended to cause injury to N14 or to deliberately target his head. In the view of the judicial officer, the player's conduct had been reckless and highly dangerous."

• Click here to read the full disciplinary hearing verdict