Cape Town - Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo has been banned for one week after being found guilty of foul play in his side’s 17-10 win over the Bulls in Pretoria at the weekend.
SANZAAR’s foul play review committee accepted a guilty plea from Naholo for contravening Law 10.4(g) - Dangerous charging or obstructing or grabbing of an opponent with or without the ball, including shouldering.
Naholo has been suspended from all forms of the game for one week, up to and including Saturday, May 20 - which means he will miss the Highlanders’ clash against the Western Force in Perth.
The incident, for which Naholo received a red card, occurred in the 64th minute of the match at Loftus Versfeld.
The SANZAAR foul play review committee of Nigel Hampton (chairperson), Stefan Terblanche and Stephen Hardy assessed the case.
In his finding, Hampton ruled the following:
"Having considered the referee's description of the incident and the available video footage, the foul play review committee amended the charge to Law 10.4(g) - Dangerous charging or obstructing or grabbing of an opponent with or without the ball, including shouldering. Having further considered all the evidence, including submissions from his legal representative, Aaron Lloyd, the foul play review committee found the player's actions to have breached the red card threshold.
"With respect to sanction the foul play review committee deemed the act of foul play merited a low-end entry point of two weeks. However, taking into account mitigating factors including the player's good judicial record and early guilty plea, the foul play review committee reduced the suspension to one week.
"The player is therefore suspended for one week, up to and including Saturday, May 20, 2017.”
All SANZAAR disciplinary matters are in the first instance referred to the foul play review committee to provide the option of expediting the judicial process.
For a matter to be dispensed with at this hearing, the person appearing must plead guilty and accept the penalty offered by the foul play review committee.