The All Blacks could be without Anton Lienert-Brown for the Rugby Championship match against the Springboks after the centre was cited for a dangerous tackle in the Super Rugby final.
The Chiefs’ Lienert-Brown was yellow-carded after colliding with Crusaders back Dallas McLeod in the opening quarter of the Super Rugby final on Saturday.
Despite Lienert-Brown making head-on-head contact and both players being in an upright position, referee Ben O’Keeffe and TMO Brendon Pickerill were content to keep the sanction to a yellow card after a second look at the footage.
An early blow for the Chiefs as Anton Lienert-Brown sees yellow ? Could it have been Red?
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However, the match’s citing commissioner decided on review that the incident meets the red card threshold for foul play.
Lienert-Brown is alleged to have contravened Law 9.13: a player must not tackle an opponent dangerously. The case will first be reviewed by the Sanzaar Foul Play Review Committee, which will take place on Monday 26 June 2023 via video-conference.
All Sanzaar disciplinary matters are in the first instance referred to the Foul Play Review Committee 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 Foul Play Review Committee.
The 56-Test Lienert-Brown was named in the All Blacks’ squad for the Rugby Championship, which gets underway on 8 July.
If suspended for two weeks or more, he would miss the clash between the All Blacks and Springboks in Auckland on 15 July.
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