SCOTLAND FULLBACK STUART HOGG will not play again in March after he received a three-week ban by the Six Nations Disciplinary Committee for this late hit on Dan Biggar.
The Glasgow Warriors back, who was one of Scotland’s leading lights in an underwhelming Six Nations campaign, received a yellow card at the time for his head-high shoulder charge on the Welsh out-half. The video official, upon viewing a replay, contacted referee Jerome Garces and a red card was immediately flashed. Scotland, trailing at the time, went on to lose 51-3.
Hogg did not contest the red card and the committee, having watched television replays and listened to Hogg’s side of the story, deemed it to be a mid-range offence for ‘playing an opponent without the ball’.
An IRB statement, issued this afternoon, read: “[The committee] found that there were no aggravating factors and granted the player a 40% [two week] reduction to account for mitigating factors, including the player’s remorse for the incident both on the day of the match and subsequently through the media.
“The committee therefore imposed a sanction of a three week playing suspension. Stuart Hogg is suspended from playing until midnight on 6 April and has the right of appeal.”