Treviso prop Romulo Acosta faced a disciplinary hearing today after he was red carded for his part in an ugly brawl during Edinburgh's 48-0 bonus point win over Treviso at Murrayfield. Two other players were also cited following the weekend's action.
Acosta appeared to punch Fraser McKenzie on the ground, which resulted in a red card, while Grayson Hart was yellow carded for retaliation.
"I made the point to the players they have to keep their discipline and not get embroiled. We will have a review and get a clear picture," said Edinburgh coach Alan Solomans.
"Grayson was trying to push people away at the beginning and there was provocation. But no matter how much provocation you have to keep your discipline. It is not something one wants to see in a rugby game. The game lost its way after that (incident) but we got back on the horse."
Acosta appeared today before an independent PRO12 Rugby disciplinary committee.
The disciplinary committee, chaired by Rhian Williams (Wales) along with Simon Thomas and Aurwel Morgan (both Wales), viewed footage of the incident and listened to representations made by and on behalf of the player.
They found that the incident was at the top end of the World Rugby/IRB sanctions for this type of offence, meriting a 10 week starting point.
In the absence of any aggravating factors and in light of several mitigating factors, including the player's exemplary previous playing record, the disciplinary committee applied a 4 week reduction from the entry point and suspended the player from playing for 6 weeks.
Two other players were also cited by the independant citing commisioner, with Teofilo Paulo from the Cardiff Blues and Joe Snyman from the Scarlets cited for striking, under Law 10.4(a).
The disciplinary committee found that in each case the player's actions had warranted a lower end entry point under World Rugby's sanctions for this type of offending, which is a two-week playing suspension.
However, after considering the offending in detail, and all aggravating and mitigating factors, the disciplinary committee concluded that a playing suspension would be wholly disproportionate in the circumstances, and accordingly imposed no suspension on either player.
Note: This article has been updated to reflect the result of the disciplinary hearing
credit: rugby riot