Disciplinary update - Paice, Filise banned; McGuigan free to play immediately

David Paice and Taufa’ao Filise have received bans, while Byron McGuigan has had no further action tacken against him, for their respective red cards in both the Aviva Premiership and Guinness Pro14 at the weekend.

David Paice of London Irish appeared before an independent disciplinary panel this evening. Paice was shown a red card for dangerous charging and making contact with the head of Willi Heinz of Gloucester Rugby, contrary to law 10.4 (g).

The incident occurred in the first half of the Aviva Premiership match between Gloucester and London Irish on Saturday 2 December. Paice pleaded guilty to the charge and is suspended for five weeks. He is free to play again on 9 January 2018.

The chairman of the panel Aidan O’Brien said: “The panel found that this was a reckless challenge in which contact was made with the head of the Gloucester player causing an injury. The entry point was mid-range, one week was added on to reflect the player’s previous disciplinary record and, after allowing mitigation to reflect the player’s guilty plea, remorse and conduct at the hearing, the final sanction is five weeks. The player is free to play on 9 January 2018”.

Also this evening, the charges against Sale Sharks Byron McGuigan were heard on papers with the player’s consent. McGuigan was shown a red card following two yellow cards – Law 10.4(m) – in the match Worcester Warriors v Sale Sharks on 1 December 2017.

The first yellow card (issued in the 32nd minute of the match) was for a technical offence – deliberately knocking on the ball – and the second yellow card (issued in the 67th minute of the match) was for foul play (dangerous tackle, contrary to law 10.4(e)).

The detail set out at Appendix 1 to RFU Regulation 19 here determines that the sanction for two yellow cards (where one is given for a technical offence) is sending off sufficient.

The player is free to play again immediately.

Meanwhile Taufa’ao Filise of Cardiff Blues faced a Disciplinary Hearing via a video conference and has been banned for three weeks.

A Disciplinary Panel convened in Dublin to consider the red-card decision against the player resulting from the Round 10 fixture against Glasgow Warriors on December 1, 2017.

The player was shown a red card by referee Nigel Owens under Law 10.4 (e) – A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. The Panel considered the player’s clean disciplinary record, his admission of guilt and good conduct throughout the process and applied the mitigation of 50 per cent, the maximum amount allowed under World Rugby’s Disciplinary Regulations.

As a result, the ban was reduced to three weeks.