Lee 'punished' with off-field yellow

Counties Manukau No.8 Fritz Lee is free to play for his province in Saturday's Ranfurly Shield challenge against Hawke's Bay.

This comes after he was issued with only an off-field yellow card, following a judicial hearing on Friday.

Lee had been cited for a dangerous tackle, under law 10.4 (e), on Auckland openside flank Sean Polwart in the third minute of the first half of Counties Manukau's match against Auckland on Wednesday.

Auckland won the match 22-20.

After hearing submissions during the video conference hearing Friday, judicial officer Chris Morris found Lee culpable for the dangerous tackle, but considered this to be at the lower end of the scale of offending.

Morris deemed that suspension was not warranted, and issued Lee with an off-field yellow card.

He is free to be selected for his team's Shield challenge in Napier on Saturday.