England’s Tom Curry will discover his Rugby World Cup fate on Tuesday when he appears before a World Rugby committee on Tuesday; the Sale Sharks flanker was sent off during England’s 27-10 victory over Argentina in Marseille
England flanker Tom Curry will find out the severity of his suspension when he appears before a judicial committee in Paris on Tuesday evening.
The 25-year old was initially yellow carded within three minutes of England’s Rugby World Cup getting under way following his challenge on Argentina’s Juan Cruz Mallia, which saw a clash of heads between the pair.
The yellow was upgraded to a red card following a review on the new ‘bunker’ system.
“Tom Curry will appear before an independent judicial committee in Paris having received a red card for an offence contrary to Law 9.13 [dangerous tackle],” confirmed World Rugby.
“At the player’s request, the hearing will take place on Tuesday evening, September 12.”
Sky Sports understands that Curry will not attend the conference in person, and instead do so virtually.
He is one of three English players to have seen red in the past four games, with World Rugby cracking down on dangerous tackles in a bid to increase player safety and decrease head injuries.
The Sale Sharks player, who hadn’t played since the Premiership final, may face a similar ban to fellow back row Billy Vunipola – two games if he completes World Rugby’s coaching programme on tackling.
This would rule Curry out of England’s groups stage games against Japan and Chile.
What do World Rugby’s laws say?
Head-on-head contact in the tackle comes under Law 9 of the Laws of Rugby Union, which covers foul play. Law 9.11 dictates “Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others” and the referee is always entitled to issue a yellow or red card for any actions which contravene that.
Under the head contact decision-making process for officials issued by the global governing body in March 2021, considerations for whether foul play occurred in the case of head-on-head contact are if the actions of the player were intentional, reckless, and/or avoidable.
Mitigation in terms of issuing a red or yellow card as a sanction along with a penalty can be applied if there was a sudden or significant change in height or direction from the ball carrier, a late change in dynamics due to contact from another player, and the tackler making an effort to wrap their arms around the ball carrier.
However, there can be no mitigation if an act of foul play is deemed to be intentional or highly reckless.
For the latest updates, stay tuned to Sky Sports News and the Sky Sports digital platforms.