Newport Gwent Dragon's skipper Rynard Landman is likely to receive a heavy ban after being red carded and cited for elbowing an opponent during his side's 30-25 Guinness Pro12 defeat to Connacht. Landman will face a disciplinary hearing this week.
The hefty South African lock was shown the straight red card for taking out Connacht flyhalf Jack Carty only 15 minutes into the match. Scottish referee Lloyd Linton, after looking at the big screen and chatting with his fellow officials, was left with little choice.
We saw Landman, sometimes referred to as 'Ligtoring' (Lighthouse) on RD two years back when he scored a try, did a great celebration but then was called back as it was disallowed.
Those were happier times (even if it was disallowed!), because now he's facing a significant ban that could be as long as 8 weeks after his foolish misdemeanour. He tweeted the following:
Taking to twitter to express one's remorse appears to be a good way to lessen a sentence these days. Not that this was in any way disingenuous, but every bit helps when it comes to the disciplinary hearing, where he will need to explain his actions and convince the panel that his actions were not only out of character, but he is genuinely remorseful for what he did.
As it was, his moment of madness left his team in the dirt and nobody will know that more than the man himself, as he watched from the sidelines while they manfully took on a talented Connacht side.
A Pro12 statement said that the hearing will take place later this week. For now, you can view the incident near the beginning of the highlights video below.