Australia front row, Ashley Marsters, appeared before an independent judicial committee on Monday having received a red card in Australia’s Rugby World Cup 2021 Pool A match on 15 October, 2022. The red card was awarded for an offence pursuant to Law 9.13 (dangerous tackle).
The independent Disciplinary Committee was chaired by Brenda Heather-Latu (Samoa), joined by former players Ofisa Tonu’u (New Zealand) and Becky Essex (England).
The player did not accept that she had committed the act of foul play or that the offence was worthy of a red card. Having considered the player’s evidence and reviewed the clips, the Committee decided to uphold the red card. The Committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head. This resulted in a starting point of a six-week suspension.
The Committee took into consideration the mitigating factors and decided that the player was entitled to the full mitigation available (three weeks). The Committee decided there were no aggravating factors and therefore the final sanction was a three-week suspension.
The player may apply to take part in the Coaching Intervention Programme to substitute the final week of the sanction for a coaching intervention aimed at modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play. Further information can be found here.
The player is therefore suspended for Australia’s last Pool A match against Wales on 22 October, with the remaining weeks to be determined once it is known if Australia have reached the knockout phase.
The player has the right of appeal within 48 hours of the issuing of the full written decision, which will appear here once published.
Click here to watch the video that explains how rugby’s disciplinary process works.
Visit World Rugby’s dedicated disciplinary process education and information page here.