Italy front row, Destiny Aminu, appeared before an independent judicial committee on Monday, 26 June, having received a red card in Italy’s Pool C match against Argentina at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023 on 24 June. The red card was awarded pursuant to Law 9.16.
The independent Disciplinary Committee was chaired by Stephen Hardy (Australia), joined by former international player David Croft (Australia) and former international referee Valeriu Toma (Romania).
The Committee at the outset amended the charged offence from 9.16 (tackling without attempting to grasp the tackler) to both 9.11 (player must not do anything reckless or dangerous) and 9.13 (dangerous tackle), both to be considered concurrently for the purpose of sanction.
The player pleaded guilty to committing foul play and accepted the red card threshold had been met. Having considered all of the available evidence and the seriousness of the foul play, the Committee decided that the offence warranted a mid-range sanction (six matches). Having considered potential mitigation, the Committee decided to reduce the sanction by one third. The final sanction is four matches.
The player is suspended for the following matches:
- South Africa v Italy – 29 June, 2023
- Italy v Georgia – 4 July, 2023
- Italy’s matches in rounds four and five of the World Rugby U20 Championship – 9 and 14 July, 2023
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.