England forward Maro Itoje has avoided a ban after being cited for a dangerous tackle during Saracens’ victory over Gallagher Premiership title rivals Bath.
The Saracens lock is free to play with immediate effect after the citing was dismissed by an independent disciplinary panel, the Rugby Football Union said.
The news is a major boost for second-placed Saracens ahead of their final two regular season games against Bristol and Sale Sharks.
Itoje made an upright tackle on Bath number eight Alfie Barbeary during the first half of Saracens’ 15-12 win at the Recreation Ground, making head contact in the process.
Referee Luke Pearce yellow-carded him, viewing the fact it was not direct head-on-head contact as mitigation for not showing a red.
Panel chair Philip Evans KC said: “The panel heard and considered evidence from Maro Itoje and the Bath player and were able to examine the footage of the incident many times and from many different angles.
“In particular, the panel watched the footage from the rear view of Itoje which, when considered alongside the rest of the footage, demonstrated it was more likely than not that contact was not initially with the head or simultaneously with the head and the body.
“Instead, contact with the head appears to come later and can properly be described as more glancing than direct in nature.
“In all of the circumstances, the panel did not conclude that a high degree of danger was created and therefore the on-field decision stands.
“The player is free to play with immediate effect.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here