Waratahs' Naiyaravoro cited
Naiyaravoro is charged with having contravened Law 10.4 (i): Tackling, tapping, pushing or pulling an opponent jumping for the ball in a line-out or in open play.
The incident occurred in the 57th minute of a very spiteful match – won 28-17 by the Hurricanes in Sydney on Saturday.
The referee for the match, Chris Pollock, awarded a yellow card for the incident.
Upon further review of the match footage, the citing commissioner deemed in his opinion the incident had met the red card threshold for foul play.
The citing is to be considered in the first instance by SANZAAR judicial officer Robert Stelzner.
All SANZAAR disciplinary matters are in the first instance referred to a judicial officer hearing, to provide the option of expediting the judicial process.
For a matter to be dispensed with at this hearing, the person appearing must plead guilty and accept the penalty offered by the judicial officer.
The Waratahs are in a desperate race against the Brumbies to top the Australian conference.
The team not topping the Australian conference will fall out of the play-off race, as at least four New Zealand teams will finish ahead of them in the Australasian conference.
That means one play-off spot will go to the New Zealand conference winners – still to be decided – and the three wildcard slots for the Australasian conference will go to the other three Kiwi teams.
