Davies gets five weeks for headbutt

Editor

Wales and Scarlets scrum-half Gareth Davies has been suspended for five weeks following his sending off against Edinburgh on Saturday.

The 24-year-old was shown a red card just two minutes after coming on in the Pro12 match, for a headbutt on Edinburgh centre Andries Strauss.

Davies appeared today before an independent Pro12 Rugby Disciplinary Committee, following the red card he received in the second half of the match between Scarlets and Edinburgh on Saturday 28 March 2015, for a strike with the head to an opponent.

The Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Tommy Dalton, along with Mark McParland and Graham Quinn (all from Ireland), having listened to representations by and on behalf of the player and viewed footage of the incident, found that Gareth Davies had committed an act of foul play worthy of the red card and considered it to be a mid-range offence within World Rugby's sanctions for this type of offence, carrying an entry-point of 10 weeks. 

The Disciplinary Committee noted the player's previous unblemished record, conduct at the hearing, and that there were no aggravating factors, in applying a 5-week reduction from the entry point and suspended the player from playing for 5 weeks.

Davies is suspended from playing for 5 weeks until midnight on Sunday, May 10 2015, meaning he will return for the Scarlets' final game of the season against Treviso.