New Zealand’s Scott Barrett will be available for the World Cup opener against France after an independent judicial committee no further sanction was necessary for his red card against the Springboks.
Barrett was sent off after being shown a second yellow card for a dangerous clean out on Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx, in the first half of New Zealand’s record defeat at Twickenham.
The All Blacks lock had only just returned to the field after being sent to the sin bin for a cynical foul on the breakdown, when New Zealand were on a team warning for repeated infringements.
Barrett appeared before an independent judicial committee on Monday, chaired by Sir James Dingemans (England), joined by former international player Olly Kohn (Wales) and former referee Valeriu Toma (Romania).
The committee decided not to upgrade the yellow card for Barrett’s clean out to a red card, as they were only required to apply a sanction for the offence of persistent offending, not for the each of the yellow card offences.
It was therefore decided that the sending off was a sufficient sanction, because one of the yellow cards was for a technical offence following a team warning.
The full written decision can be found here.
Barrett is available for selection for the opening World Cup match between New Zealand and hosts France on Friday, 8 September.
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