Springbok Flip van der Merwe has been cited for alleged foul play during Saturday's Rugby Championship match between South Africa and Australia at Newlands, in Cape Town.
Van der Merwe was alleged to have contravened law 10.4 (a) Punching or Striking when he made contact with Australian winger Joe Tomane in the 39th minute of the game.
Match referee Jerome Garces issued 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 was to be considered by Sanzar – the body charged with administering rugby in the southern hemisphere – where duty judicial officer Nigel Hampton had been assigned to consider the matter.
All Sanzar disciplinary matters were initially referred to a duty judicial officer (DJO) 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 DJO. – Sapa