Rugby World Cup: Curry handed THREE week ban for red card against Argentina
England back-row Tom Curry has been banned for three weeks after being shown a red card in his side’s Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina on Saturday.
Curry was sent off with a yellow card in the opening minutes for a head-on-head collision in Marseille.
That ban will be reduced to two weeks should the Sale Sharks forward complete a coahcing course.
He will therefore miss matches against Japan and Chile but could return for England’s final Pool D match against Samoa.
England next play on Sunday, where captain Owen Farrell and No8 Billy Vunipola will be available for selection having served bans for high tackles of their own.
The ban is likely to spark some controversy after a number of similar tackles – including one by Gloucester fly-half Santiago Carreras – were not deemed to reach the red card level.
Rugby is battling with widespread calls to make the sport safer and many pundits have attacked the lack of consistency in refereeing decisions across the opening game of the Rugby World Cup in France.
Curry accepted that foul play had occurred and that the tackle reached the threshold of a red card, according to the disciplinary hearing notes.
The tackle was deemed to have an entry point of six weeks but the admission of guilt as well as a good disciplinary record has seen that halved to three weeks, which will be reduced to two should he complete the tackle school.
There were other matches at the weekend where players – including South Africa’s Jesse Kriel and Wales’ Will Rowlands – were lucky not to see television match reviews for high tackles in their opening games against Scotland and Fiji respectively.
The World Cup continues on Thursday with hosts France taking on Namibia. Also this weekend Wales face Portugal, England play Japan and Ireland take on Tonga.