Australia’s hopes of building on last week’s victory against England when the teams meet in Brisbane on Saturday were put in check by news that two key players have been ruled out for the remainder of the series.
Lock Darcy Swain and veteran playmaker Quade Cooper will miss the rest of the series against England.
Swain has been being suspended for two weeks by a judicial committee for a head butt – found guilty of foul play during Australia’s 30-28 win in Perth, having been shown a red card when he retaliated to opposite number Jonny Hill in the 34th minute.
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The 25-year-old will consequently miss the second and final Test in the series against England, but is free to play immediately afterwards, having had the severity of his punishment downgraded.
Australia will also reportedly be without Cooper for the rest of the series, after the flyhalf suffered a calf strain during the warm-up for the first Test and was replaced by Noah Lolesio.
The Sydney Morning Herald said Cooper (34) had undergone scans which rule him out of the second Test in Brisbane on Saturday and almost certainly the third in Sydney a week later.
The independent judiciary rejected Swain’s contention that the incident didn’t warrant a red card but found elements of mitigation.
“The committee deemed the act of foul play merited a low-end entry point of six weeks given the provocation before the incident, low degree of force exerted by the player and that no injury was caused to the victim. This resulted in a starting point of a six-week suspension,” World Rugby said in a statement.
“Having acknowledged mitigating factors, including the player’s acknowledgement of foul play, clean disciplinary record, conduct at the hearing and expression of remorse, the committee granted the player full mitigation of 50 per cent.”
The suspension was reduced further to two weeks after the committee determined that a three-week punishment would be “wholly disproportionate given the level and nature of the offence”.
© Agence France-Presse
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