Two-week ban for Jaguares lock

Cape Town - Jaguares lock Tomas Lavanini has been suspended for two weeks after he was found guilty of dangerous play in his side’s Super Rugby loss to the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth last week.

SANZAAR duty judicial officer Michael Heron has accepted a guilty plea from Lavanini for contravening Law 10.4 (h): A player must not charge into a ruck or maul - after he was red carded during the match.

Lavanini charged into an opponent with his shoulder and made contact with his opponent's head during the match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, which the Kings won 29-22.

Lavanini received a sanction of two weeks (covering two scheduled matches) with his next scheduled matches being Argentina v Italy (June 11) and Argentina v Franc (June 18). Consequently he is suspended up to and including Saturday, June 18.

In his finding, Heron ruled the following:

"The player, Mr Stefan Weyers (counsel), Mr Greg Peters (Jaguares CEO), Mr Rafael Laria (Jaguares Manager) and an interpreter attended the call. Mr Andreas Ramos, SAANZAR JO, also attended as an observer.

"The player accepted the charge. I agreed with Mr Weyers that the charge should be under Law 10(4) (h) as the opponent player did not have the ball. The player was remorseful and expressed regret to me for his actions.

"I accepted the submission that this was low end offending, it was not intentionally dangerous, no injury resulted and the only negative impact on the game was to the Jaguares and Mr Lavanini.  For the reasons above, I indicated that I accepted a low end entry point under 10(4) (h) of two weeks.

"Mr Lavanini has three previous citings and a yellow card for similar dangerous play. 

"Because of his previous conduct and repeated offending, I indicated I would add a week to the suspension (to three weeks).

"Given his remorse, cooperation and early plea, I was prepared to reduce that by one week to a resulting suspension of two weeks (covering two matches) and I gave that indication.

"The next scheduled fixture for the player was an international match on 11 June for Argentina against Italy, following which the next fixture was an international match for Argentina against France.  Accordingly, the suspension imposed is for two matches (being those international matches on 11 and 18 June) but takes effect from today up to and including 18 June 2016 (to include both those scheduled international matches)."

Lavanini’s suspension comes after his team-mate, prop Ramiro Herrera, was also banned for two weeks after getting a red card in the same match.