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Saracens' Billy Vunipola faces hearing after Champions Cup red card
By Josh Raisey
England and Saracens No8 Billy Vunipola will appear before an independent disciplinary committee this evening following his red card on Saturday in the Investec Champions Cup against the Bulls, the EPCR have announced.
The 31-year-old was red carded in the second-half at Loftus Versfeld by referee Andrea Piardi for a dangerous clearout of Bulls No8 Cameron Hanekom, and will now face a hearing via video conference.
An EPCR statement read: "The Saracens No 8, Billy Vunipola, was issued with a red card during his club’s Investec Champions Cup, Round 1 match against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, 9 December 2023.
"Vunipola was sent off by the referee, Andrea Piardi (Italy), in the 52nd minute of the match for a dangerous strike to the head area of the Vodacom Bulls No 8, Cameron Hanekom, in contravention of Law 9.12 and Law 9.11.
"Law 9.12 Physical abuse of an opponent – punching or striking with hand, arm, elbow or shoulder
Under World Rugby’s Sanctions for Foul Play, Law 9.12 relating to striking with the hand, arm, elbow or shoulder carries the following sanction entry points - Low End: 2 weeks; Mid-range: 6 weeks; Top end: 10 to 52 weeks
"Law 9.11 Reckless or dangerous play – leading with the elbow or forearm
Under World Rugby’s Sanctions for Foul Play, Law 9.11 relating to dangerous play carries the following sanction entry points - Low End: 2 weeks; Mid-range: 6 weeks; Top end: 10 to 52 weeks
"Jennifer Donovan (Ireland), Chair, Tony Wheat (Ireland) and Valeriu Toma (Romania) have been appointed as the independent Disciplinary Committee for the hearing which will take place by video conference this evening (Tuesday, 12 December)."
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Latest Comments
Yeah they're away of it too. It was brought up in one of the Italian focused articles. They are performing now and trying to move out of that 'being in awe' type attitude.
Very easy to say we're good enough to put all our focus on wining this last big game of the year (this one) though, you also need to be consistent and still perform in the other games (slip up against Georgia) and not get ahead of yourself. Not think you're too good for teams like Argentina and Georgia just because theres a shift in attitude towards thinking 'were good enough to beat anybody now'. Hope they go forward from here but I think this performance is still only good enough to keep them off wooden spoon 6N position (keep them well away from the bottom mind you).
Go to commentsYeah I predicted (out of thin air) it to be more like 30 points between them. You don't think it wasn't more like that because they picked jaded players?
Will have a look at the game now I guess.
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