Six-week ban for Gloucester hooker

Gloucester hooker Darren Dawidiuk has been suspended for six weeks for a tip-tackle on Bath lock Dave Attwood.

Dawidiuk pleaded not guilty to the charge of committing a dangerous tackle on Attwood, for which he received a red card, during Gloucester's 25-31 defeat at The Rec on March 1.

However, the 25-year-old was found guilty of contravening Law 10.4(j) and will miss Gloucester's next five matches. He is suspended until April 21 and is free to play again the following day.

The case was heard by a panel of Jeff Blackett (Chairman), Jeremy Summers and Elizabeth Riley at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Blackett said: “The tackle was deemed to warrant a mid-range sanction entry point of eight weeks which was then increased to reflect the recent IRB memorandum dealing with such cases and subsequently reduced by three weeks to take account of mitigating factors.

“Unless we continue to apply these sanctions to this type of tackle we will not change the behaviour of players and reduce the potential risk of catastrophic injury.”

Lock Lua Lokotui pleaded not guilty to the same charge and was found not guilty.