Leicester Tigers lock Ollie Chessum banned for three games

Leicester Tigers lock Ollie Chessum has been suspended for three weeks following his red card incident in the Heineken Champions Cup game against Clermont last weekend.

The 21-year-old was sent-off by by referee Andrew Brace in the 64th minute for a dangerous tackle in contrary to the Law 9.13. With Clermont also having two players Etienne Fourcade and Daniel Biziwu sin-binned in the 60th and 62nd minutes respectively, the red card of Chessum did not cost the Tigers much as they sealed a 27-17 win to progress to the quarter-finals.

The independent Disciplinary Committee comprising Pamela Woodman (Scotland), chair, Donal Courtney (Ireland) and Pat Barriscale (Ireland) considered video imagery of the incident and heard submissions from Chessum, who did not accept the red card decision, from the player’s legal representative, John Shea, from the Leicester Tigers General Manager, Leigh Jones, and from the EPCR Disciplinary Officer, Liam McTiernan.

Chessum is free to play again from 9th May but could return on 2nd May if he successfully completes a World Rugby coaching Intervention which means he would be available for Leicester's Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final game against Leinster on 7th May.