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England hooker Tom Dunn has had his club season at Bath ended by his latest red card suspension. The front-rower received a three-week ban for a red-carded unintentional strike with an elbow during Bath’s late-March defeat at London Irish.
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The independent RFU disciplinary hearing panel said at that time of that suspension: “The player has one matter on his disciplinary record from 2013 but the panel did not consider that this should prevent him from receiving the full mitigation available in light of his early guilty plea, his apology and the manner in which he engaged with the hearing process.”
That full application of mitigation at the hearing just six weeks ago impacted the severity of the punishment handed down on this occasion following Dunn’s latest sending-off last Saturday versus Bristol.
Dunn was shown a red card by referee Luke Pearce in the 70th minute of the match for dangerous tackling and an RFU statement confirming his season-ending four-match Bath ban read: “Dunn accepted the charge and was given a four-week suspension by the independent disciplinary panel comprising Matthew Weaver (chair) with Rob Vickerman and Mitch Read. He is free to play again on June 15.
“The panel was satisfied that the player’s intention was to try and prevent the offload rather than to make contact with the head of the Bristol player. In those circumstances, there were no factors to warrant a top-end entry point therefore the mandatory minimum entry point applied.
Disciplinary update | @BathRugby's Tom Dunn has been given a four week suspension following his red card against Bristol Bears. pic.twitter.com/LtfEzFA5f8
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) May 12, 2021
“The player was not entitled to full mitigation due to a recent red card and so the panel deducted two weeks on account of his guilty plea, remorse and positive engagement in the process.”
TOM DUNN’S MISSING PREMIERSHIP MATCHES
May 14: Bath v Sale
May 29: Harlequins v Bath
June 5: Gloucester v Bath
June 12: Bath v Northampton
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Four red cards in their last four Premiership games have ruined Bath's hopes of returning to the semi-finals https://t.co/uBR0P6cYId
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 12, 2021
