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Wallaby Taniela Tupou's Super Rugby playoffs in doubt after citing

Taniela Tupou of the Rebels warms up during the round seven Super Rugby Pacific match between Melbourne Rebels and Fijian Drua at AAMI Park, on April 05, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Rebels prop Taniela Tupou faces an anxious wait over the coming days after the Wallaby was cited for a high cleanout in the 65th minute of his team’s loss against the Brumbies in round 14.

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The 28-year-old faced no disciplinary action during the contest, despite appearing to injure Brumbies lock Darcy Swain on the play, but has been cited and faces a potential ban.

The play was deemed to meet the red-card threshold by a judiciary, which cited law 9.20 for Tupou’s indiscretion.

“Taniela Tupou of the Rebels has been cited for alleged foul play during a Super Rugby Pacific match at the weekend,” the citing statement read.

“Tupou is alleged to have contravened Law 9.20: Dangerous play in a ruck or maul, during the match between the Brumbies and Rebels at GIO Stadium in Canberra on 24 May 2024.

“Upon further review of the match footage, the Citing Commissioner deemed in his opinion the incident had met the Red Card threshold for foul play.”

The Rebels’ participation in the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs is guaranteed as they sit seven competition points clear of the ninth-placed Western force on the table.

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With one week of the round-robin remaining before the quarter-finals, a low-range suspension would see Tupou miss round 15, the quarter-finals and a potential semi-final contest but return for a potential final appearance.

Otherwise, a longer suspension would end the Wallaby’s Super Rugby season entirely.

Two of Tupou’s New Zealand counterparts at the Blues and Hurricanes also face judicial decisions this week ahead of their respective postseason campaigns, with Wellington hooker Raymond Tuputupu and Auckland flanker Adrian Choat set to learn their fate in the coming days.

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3 Comments
J
Jasyn 158 days ago

Should be cited (along with quite a few pi players) for taking to the rugby field chewing gum. If he gets knocked out cold he could choke on that.

I don’t think it counts as a mouth guard, probably just trying to look ‘staunch’, which seems important to some people.

j
john 159 days ago

He saw Darcy Swain trying to cheat by using his hand in a ruck and banged him. Fair enough. The Brumbies are dragging Australian rugby down with their incessant cheating.

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Bull Shark 5 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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