Jasper Wiese and Hanro Liebenberg have been handed suspensions by an independent disciplinary panel following their red cards in the Leicester Tigers win over Wasps last weekend.
The Tigers duo, and Wasps prop Kieran Brookes who was also sent off in the same game, appeared before an online panel on Wednesday evening.
All three players were shown a red card by referee Craig Maxwell-Keys as follows:
- Jasper Wiese in the 27th minute for dangerous play in a ruck or maul, contrary to World Rugby Law 9.20a or in the alternative Law 9.20b
- Brookes in the 42nd minute for a dangerous tackle on Leicester Tigers' Tomas Lavanini contrary to World Rugby Law 9.13
- Liebenberg in the 79th minute for tackling the jumper (Josh Bassett of Wasps) in the air, contrary to World Rugby Law 9.17
They accepted the charges and were given the following suspensions by the independent disciplinary panel comprising Sir James Dingemans (chair), with Becky Essex and Rob Vickerman.
- Jasper Wiese: four-week suspension. He is free to play again on March 23.
- Hanro Liebenberg: two-week suspension. He is free to play again on March 9.
- Kieran Brookes: three-week suspension. He is free to play again on March 16.
Independent panel statement:
"Jasper Wiese accepted that he had committed the offence of dangerous play in a ruck or maul, contrary to law 9.20a by making contact with the head of a Wasps player. The Wasps player had a head injury assessment and was fit to return to play in the match, and subsequent investigations have shown no injury. As this was an act of foul play which resulted in contact with the head, at least a mid-range entry point was required by RFU Regulation 19. It was determined that this was a mid-range entry point which was 6 weeks. It was common ground that there were no aggravating factors.
“The mitigation available to the player was reduced to 33 per cent because of two previous relevant disciplinary matters. This meant that the sanction was a suspension of 4 weeks. The player is suspended until 22 March and will be free to play from 23 March 2021."
"Kieran Brookes accepted that he had committed the offence of a dangerous tackle, contrary to law 9.13 by making contact with the head of a Leicester Tigers player. The Leicester player continued to play and remains fit to play. As this was an act of foul play which resulted in contact with the head at least a mid-range entry point was required by RFU Regulation 19. It was determined that this was a mid-range entry point of 6 weeks. There were no aggravating factors and full mitigation of 50 per cent was applied. This resulted in a sanction of 3 weeks. The player is suspended until 15 March and free to play from 16 March 2021.
"Hanro Liebenberg accepted that he had committed the offence of tackling the jumper in the air, contrary to law 9.17 when he had come into contact with a Wasps player who was in the air. When falling to the ground, the Wasps player managed to place his hands above his head to avoid injury when landing and continued to play and remains fit to play. This was determined to be a low-end entry point which is 4 weeks. Full mitigation of 50 per cent was applied. This resulted in a sanction of 2 weeks. The player is suspended until 8 March and will be free to play on 9 March 2021."
