Italy hooker gets four-week ban

NEWS: Italy hooker Epalahame Faiva will miss his country’s final two Six Nations matches against Scotland and Wales.

Faiva received a four-week ban after he was sent off in his team’s 6-57 defeat to Ireland in the Six Nations over the weekend

Faiva, who replaced the injured Gianmarco Lucches, received a red card in the 19th minute for a high tackle on Dan Sheehan.

Faiva’s dismissal left Italy without a specialist hooker, meaning that they were reduced to 13 men under World Rugby’s law punishing the side which forced uncontested scrums.

“Italy Hooker Hame Faiva appeared before an independent judicial committee via video link having received a red card for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.13 [A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously] in the Six Nations match Ireland v Italy on 27 February 2022,” said a statement from the tournament’s disciplinary committee.

“The independent Judicial Committee consisting of Simon Thomas – Chair [Wales], Frank Hadden [Scotland] and Lawrence Sephaka [South Africa] heard the case, considering all the available evidence and submissions from the player and his representatives.

“The player denied that he had committed an act of foul play worthy of a red card. Having reviewed all the evidence, the Committee deemed that:

“The player had acted recklessly by committing a high and dangerous tackle whereby his shoulder had made direct contact with the neck of an opponent with significant force. This had been correctly sanctioned on field by the match referee following World Rugby’s Head Contact Process.

“On that basis, the Committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head. This resulted in a starting point of a six-week suspension.

“Having acknowledged no aggravating factors and mitigating factors including the player’s previous unblemished record, the committee reduced the six-week entry point by two weeks, resulting in a sanction of four weeks.”

Faiva will miss the following matches:

URC: Benetton v Leinster – Saturday, March 5
Six Nations: Italy v Scotland – Saturday, March 12
Six Nations: Wales v Italy – Saturday, March 19
URC: Munster v Benetton – Friday, March 25