Williams cleared for Bledisloe Cup opener
The Wallabies play the All Blacks in Sydney on August 19 – a match that also doubles as the opening round of the Bledisloe Cup series between the two countries.
An appeal committee upheld the appeal by Williams against the matches counting towards his four-week suspension for dangerous charging.
This follows his red card for dangerous charging, contrary to Law 10.4(g), during the second New Zealand versus British and Irish Lions test in Wellington on July 1.
A trial game played by New Zealand against Counties and Taranaki on August 11 – which had previously been excluded from the suspension by the original disciplinary committee – has now been deemed to comply with the regulations’ definition of a "match".
As such, that match will be included as part of the player's suspension.
Accordingly, Williams is suspended from all forms of rugby up to and including August 11.
The hearing took place on August 1 and was heard by an appeal committee chaired by Justice Graeme Mew (Canada), along with Shao-Ing Wang (Singapore) and Stefan Terblanche (South Africa).
For the full written decision, CLICK HERE!
