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The Queensland Reds will fight Taniela Tupou’s retrospective charge of foul play after SANZAAR found the pivotal prop had met the red card threshold during a clean-out against the Brumbies.
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A bullocking Tupou shunted Jahrome Brown from the ruck in the first half of the Reds’ tight loss in Canberra, referee Damon Murphy reviewing and clearing him of any discretion at the time.
The incident still found its way to Monday night’s SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee after further inspection of the footage had deemed it a red card offence for high contact.
That opinion was upheld, the Reds set to fight the charge on Wednesday night after knocking back what is understood to be a two-week suspension with an early guilty plea.
If unsuccessful, the Wallabies enforcer will, at minimum, miss Saturday’s Suncorp Stadium home game against the NSW Waratahs and the spicy return of the Brumbies to Brisbane a week later.
The decision compounded frustrations at Ballymore given Fraser McReight’s failed chase of a ball for the match-winning try was not reviewed, despite clear evidence he had been obstructed.
The 16-12 loss dropped the Reds to 4-1 this season with the Waratahs (3-2) able to jump ahead of them into second on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder with a win on Saturday.
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