Tom Youngs' season on the line after call to attend red card disciplinary hearing

Leicester skipper Tom Youngs will appear before an RFU independent disciplinary panel on Wednesday evening, a hearing that will determine if he can play any further role in Tigers’ regelation battle.

Youngs was shown a red card by referee Tom Foley in the 56th minute of the Welford Road match against Exeter last Saturday. This was for making contact with Chiefs lock Ollie Atkins' head in a ruck contrary to Law 9.20(a) - dangerous play in a ruck or maul. 

The hearing will take place in London on Wednesday at 5pm in front of a panel chaired by Philip Evans alongside Richard Whittam and Chris Skaife.

Leicester boss Geordan Murphy accepted Youngs’ dismissal at the weekend, but wants to see more consistency from referees in that area.

?“It’s a difficult call,” admitted Murphy. “It’s a red card to the letter of the law and I get that, especially for player safety, but it just needs to be refereed across the board. I see that incident a lot in the Premiership and it’s not a red card.”

Leicester are just five points clear of bottom side Newcastle, whom they face in the Premiership at Kingston Park on Friday night.

Youngs last week told RugbyPass: “We haven’t performed well enough this season, haven’t got enough wins and we probably do deserve to be where we have been. There are reasons around that, but we fully deserve to be where we are at,” said the hooker.

“We have to accept that, realise where we are and understand how a club of this nature is not used to being down there but we are. We have to deal with it.

“This club expects to win trophies. We expect to be up there at the top and we’re not and we know this is not good enough. We know that everyone suffers around us, the fanbase, the coaches, everyone.

“Your family suffer because they can see you’re distraught after a game, you’re not quite yourself and the Sunday morning comes around and you’re still a bit grumpy, still a bit edgy. You are dealt these cards sometimes.”