Garry Ringrose will miss Ireland’s fourth round Six Nations clash against France at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday week after receiving a three-match ban arising out a red card incident against Wales last weekend.
The Leinster centre was shown a yellow card, which was later upgraded to a 20-minute red following a bunker review, for head-on-head contact in a tackle on Welsh centre Ben Thomas in the opening half of Ireland’s 27-18 victory in Cardiff on Saturday.
The 20-minute red card rule meant Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby was able to replace Ringrose with Bundee Aki for the remainder of the match after the 20 minutes had elapsed.
At a hearing on Thursday, a disciplinary committee deemed Ringrose’s tackle on Thomas constituted foul play under Law 9.13. The committee placed the incident at the midpoint of such infractions, issuing a three-match ban.
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However, the 30-year-old will be able to reduce the penalty to two games if he partakes in the World Rugby’s Head Contact Process (HCP) coaching intervention, which would make him available for selection for Ireland’s final round Six Nations clash against Italy in Rome on March 15th.
The ban will also see him miss Leinster’s URC meeting with Cardiff this Saturday in addition to Ireland’s home fixture against France on March 8th.
