Grobbelaar free to play after red card overturned

Johan Grobbelaar has been freed to play after the Vodacom Bulls’ forward had his red card rescinded by a Vodacom United Rugby Championship [VURC] disciplinary hearing.

Grobbelaar was shown red in the 67th minute during the fifth-round tie, in which the Tshwane outfit travelled to the Scarlets and returned with a losing bonus point, the first defeat during the current campaign of the VURC.

Johan Grobbelaar’s red card against Scarlets has been downgraded to a yellow! pic.twitter.com/rAh77K9RlU

— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) October 21, 2024

The Player received a red card during the game under Law 9.13 - A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously.

Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.

The Panel overseeing the disciplinary process Ben Rutherford (Chair, Ireland), Roddy MacLeod (Scotland) and John Carroll (Ireland), found that while an act of foul play had occurred, there was not a high degree of danger and the player did not enter contact in a dynamic manner or with a high degree of force.

The Panel found that the high contact, although it occurred in an instant, was avoidable and that the player knew or ought to have known the risk of committing foul play when electing to attempt a tackle in his body position with the minimal time to get low and prepare for contact after reacting to a missed tackle by a team mate.

Therefore, the Panel found that the tackle did not meet the red card threshold. The card was thus rescinded.

The South Africans now travel to Treviso, where they will face the Italian outfit Benetton on Friday at 8:35pm CAT (SA, GMT+2).