Andrew Warwick of Ulster Rugby has been banned for a period of two games as a result of his red card in the Guinness PRO14 Round 14 fixture with Leinster Rugby on Saturday, 6 March, 2021. The Player was shown a red card by referee Frank Murphy under Law 9.11 Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others. The Player faced a Disciplinary Panel consisting Roddy MacLeod (Chair), Frank Hadden and Beth Dickens (all SRU), who concluded that an act of foul play had occurred. The Player raised his fore-arm prior to contact with an opponent, which led to contact to the neck / head area of the opponent. The Panel found that this was reckless conduct. However, as the contact to the opponent’s neck was secondary contact and there was no injury to the opponent, the Panel found that it merited a low-end entry point. The Panel had regard to World Rugby’s notes to the application of Law 9.11 and considered that it was not bound to impose a mid-range entry point. The Player is suspended from participating in the next two meaningful matches. Should a game be cancelled or postponed during this window of games, the player and PRO14 are to submit updated fixtures to the Disciplinary Panel so the return date can be advised. The Player is free to play from midnight on Sunday, 21 March 2021 and this sanction ensures he will be unavailable for two games (listed below). Please note: The following fixtures are relevant to the playing ban notice above and that A fixtures arranged by a union with the specific intent to prepare players for first-team games are considered as meaningful. * Guinness PRO14 R15 Dragons v Ulster (Saturday, March 13, 2021) * Guinness PRO14 R16 Ulster v Zebre (Saturday, March 20, 2021)
