Hurricanes express regret for tweeting disgust

Cape Town - The Hurricanes have expressed regret for their official Twitter account's "inappropriate" post that vented disgust at Chiefs midfielder Johnny Fa'auli for his red card tackle on Wes Goosen.

In the second half of the Chiefs' 28-24 win in Hamilton on Friday, Fa'auli was dismissed for a high, no-arms shot on Goosen.

The Hurricanes tweeted "what a shocker... player with a bad history of that crap" as the Television Match Official reviewed Fa'auli's challenge - but the scathing post was later deleted.

In a statement issued to the Stuff website on Saturday, the Hurricanes said they "regret a social media post that was made on the club's official Twitter account during Friday night's match against the Chiefs at FMG Waikato Stadium following an incident that saw a red card issued to Johnny Fa'auli for a dangerous tackle. The post was deleted because it was inappropriate."

Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee, who attended the match, also voiced his anger, tweeting that Fa'auli's red was "overdue for that guy" and he called the 22-year-old a "loose cannon".

Lee's tweet was also later deleted.

Goosen, 22, who was born in East London, South Africa, failed two head injury assessments after he was flattened by Fa'auli's reckless challenge and is a major doubt for when the Hurricanes host the Chiefs in next weekend's Super Rugby quarter-finals.

Fa'auli is almost certain to be unavailable for the last eight clash in Wellington as he faces the second significant suspension of his career.

SANZAAR announced his case would be considered by the foul play review committee on Sunday after he was alleged to have contravened law 9.13, which states a player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously.

Fa'auli joined the Chiefs from Taranaki and made his Super Rugby debut last year, but he received a four-week ban for clobbering Bulls centre Jan Serfontein with a no-arms tackle during a match in Hamilton on April 1, 2017.

Fa'auli's suspension in the Serfontein case was reduced from six to four weeks because of an early guilty plea.