Sale's du Preez cops ban and club fine for last weekend's Premiership red card

Jean-Luc du Preez has been banned for three weeks by Premiership Rugby and given a club fine after being red-carded during Sale’s Premiership defeat by Worcester last Saturday.

The South African was shown a red card by referee Luke Pearce in the 39th minute of the match at Sixways for putting his shoulder into the face of Warriors’ Graham Kitchener.

He was dismissed for striking an opponent, contrary to Law 9.12, and a disciplinary hearing committee comprising Ian Unsworth (chair), Guy Lovgreen and Rob Vickerman banned him until December 23. 

In a letter to the panel, du Preez claimed: “My fellow player was carrying the ball and I attempted to latch on to him. He went to ground with the ball and I found myself in front of the ball carrier. 

“I was in a high position and at the last second, I saw the defending player also in an upright position. At this point, I braced myself for contact and unfortunately made contact with the Worcester player’s head. It was a clumsy contact and at no point did I intend to cause any harm to the player.

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“I apologised after the game to the player. Sale Sharks lost the game because of my actions and I have been fined £1,000 by the club. I have a clean disciplinary record and I am embarrassed by my actions.”

Rejecting du Preez’s claim that the contact was clumsy, the panel determined that the foul play merited a six-week entry point before applying a 50 per cent reduction due to the player’s acceptance of the red card, his remorse and absence of previous offending.

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