Wallabies accept Hodge's ban
DISCIPLINARY UPDATE: Australia will not be appealing against the three-match ban handed to wing Reece Hodge for a dangerous tackle in last weekend’s World Cup match against Fiji.
Hodge was found guilty on Wednesday of a dangerous tackle on Fijian flank Peceli Yato in Sapporo even though the matchday officials did not penalise him during the match.
The suspension rules Hodge out of Australia’s remaining Pool D matches against Wales, Georgia and Uruguay and on Saturday coach Michael Cheika said the ban would not be appealed.
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“We’ve deliberated with our Q.C. and several other legal minds in Australia,” Cheika said Saturday.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that if they can’t see that that tackle doesn’t make the red card threshold, I’d be worried about going back there.”
The coach has said that no one in the Wallabies team thought the hit met the red card threshold.
“We’re not going to allow it to bother us,” insisted Cheika after days of railing against World Rugby chiefs.
Adam Ashley-Cooper will replace Hodge on the right wing for Australia’s crunch match against Six Nations champions Wales in Tokyo on Sunday.
Hodge, Samoans Rey Lee-lo and Motu Matu’u, and American John Quill have all received three-match bans for dangerous tackles in the first week of the tournament as World Rugby cracked down on any contact with an opponent’s head.
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