Cape Town - Ireland’s South African-born loose forward CJ Stander has been suspended for one match for his challenge on Springbok flyhalf Pat Lambie at the weekend.
Irish blindside flank Stander attempted to charged-down a kick from Lambie, but was just too late and his hip made contact with the SA No 10’s head area, which saw Lambie lay motionless for a few seconds on the Newlands turf in the first half of the 26-20 victory, a maiden triumph for Ireland over the Boks on South African soil.
After reviewing the incident in conjunction with the TMO, on-field referee Mathieu Raynal from France issued a red card to Stander, and Ireland coach Joe Schmidt felt afterwards that the decision was “very, very harsh”.
But judicial officer Terry Willis of Australia said in a statement on Monday night that he was “not satisfied on the balance of probability that the referee was wrong when he issued the red card to the player”.
Willis decided to suspend Stander for one match, which means he will miss Saturday’s second Test against the Boks at Ellis Park.
Lambie has also been ruled out of the Johannesburg game with concussion, and will be evaluated again next week to see if he is able to play in the final Test in Port Elizabeth.
Bok coach Allister Coetzee called up 60-Test veteran pivot Morné Steyn earlier on Monday as a replacement for Lambie, and stated that due to Steyn’s experience, he “would therefore not hesitate to draft him (Steyn) into the match-day squad” ahead of Garth April, who is the other flyhalf in the Bok group, with Elton Jantjies likely to wear the No 10 jersey on Saturday.
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