Sale Sharks' Cobus Wiese suspended for two weeks

Sale Sharks lock Cobus Wiese will miss the next two games for his club following his red card incident in the recently concluded Heineken Champions Cup fixture against Toulouse.

Wiese was sent off by the referee Mike Adamson in the 18th minute of the match for a dangerous tackle on Toulouse prop Dorian Aldegheri.

The act is deemed to be a breach of World Rugby Law 9.20 that relates to to dangerous play in a ruck or maul carries the following sanction entry points – Low End: 2 weeks; Mid-range: 6 weeks; Top end: 10 to 52 weeks.

“An independent disciplinary committee considered video imagery of the incident and heard submissions from Wiese, who accepted the red card decision, as well as from the Sale Sharks director of rugby and team manager Alex Sanderson and Scott Needham, and from the EPCR Disciplinary Officer, Liam McTiernan,” an EPCR statement read.

“Following submissions, the committee upheld the red card decision, but decided that the incident should be considered as being in contravention of Law 9.20 (b) which refers to dangerous play at a ruck or maul when a player makes contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders.”

“It determined that Wiese entered the ruck dangerously making contact with Aldegheri above the line of the shoulders, that the offending was at the mid-range of World Rugby’s sanctions, and four weeks was selected as the appropriate entry point.”

“Due to the Wiese’s good disciplinary record and his guilty plea, it was decided to grant him the full 50% mitigation and the committee therefore reduced the sanction by two weeks before imposing a two-week suspension.”

However, Wiese will be available to play from 23rd January if he successfully completes a World Rugby Coaching Intervention programme.