Bundee Aki will sit out Ireland’s Test against the Springboks in November after being handed an eight-week suspension for his cleanout on Seabelo Senatla in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
Aki was cited after being shown a red card for a dangerous breakdown clean-out on DHL Stormers wing Senatla in a URC clash in Stellenbosch.
The judicial officer overseeing the disciplinary process, Pamela Woodman of Scotland, determined that Aki’s actions towards Senatla were reckless and took into account, among other things, the speed, force and high degree of danger in his actions.
Based on this conduct alone, the offence would have been categorised as mid-range on the scale of seriousness. However, taking into account Aki’s conduct with the match-day referee, the offence was upgraded to top end on the scale of seriousness, which warranted an entry point sanction of 10 weeks.
Two weeks were added because of Aki’s previous suspensions for red cards in 2019 and 2021 for foul play involving head contact, as well as his suspension and warning for previous conduct relating to interactions with referees.
From there, four weeks were deducted due to mitigating factors, including Aki’s acceptance that he had committed an act of foul play (during the off-field disciplinary process), expression of remorse, apologies to both Senatla and the referee, and willingness to engage with his club coaching staff on a plan to address this issue.
The eight-week ban means that Aki will miss all of Connacht’s fixtures during October and will sit out three of Ireland’s Test matches in November.
However, Aki can get his ban reduced by a further week and be available for the Test against Australia if he completes the Coaching Intervention Programme.
Fixtures Aki is unavailable for:
Vodacom Bulls vs Connacht Rugby, 30 September, URC
Connacht Rugby vs Munster, 7 October, URC
Connacht Rugby vs Leinster, 14 October, URC
Connacht Rugby vs Scarlets, 21 October, URC
Ospreys vs Connacht Rugby, 29 October, URC
Ireland vs South Africa, 5 November, Autumn Nations Series
Ireland vs Fiji, 12 November, Autumn Nations Series
Ireland vs Australia, 19 November, Autumn Nations Series (substituted if the player successfully completes the head-contact process coaching intervention).
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
