France’s Six Nations woes compounded as ‘reckless’ Jonathan Danty banned

France centre Jonathan Danty has been slapped with a five-week ban following his red card in the Six Nations clash with Italy.

He is set to miss the remainder of the Six Nations but could mark his return to action in key matches for La Rochelle in the Champions Cup.

The 31-year-old’s suspension adds to France’s woes following just one win from their opening three matches in the Championship.

Head coach Fabien Galthie is already without star half-backs Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack, and flanker Anthony Jelonch, while Matthieu Jalibert is also set for a six-week spell on the sidelines through injury, according to reports.

Jonathan Danty’s ban

Danty was yellow carded by referee Christophe Ridley in Sunday’s dramatic 13-13 draw with Italy after making head-on-head contact while attempting to tackle Juan Ignacio Brex.

Ridley sent the incident to be reviewed by the Foul Play Review Bunker, which upgraded his yellow card to a red one as Danty became the 20th player to be red-carded in the history of the Six Nations since 2000.

WATCH: Every red card in the history of the Six Nations

The Frenchman faced an independent disciplinary committee via video link on Tuesday to determine further sanctions, where he admitted that he had committed an act of foul play and that it had been worthy of a red card.

The committee consisting of Jennifer Donovan – Chair (Ireland), Leon Lloyd (England) and Stefan Terblanche (South Africa) deemed that the incident reached the mid-range threshold, which meant that he would be banned for six weeks.

“The player admitted that he had committed an act of foul play and that it had been worthy of a red card. The Disciplinary Committee accepted that the player had acted recklessly, and not maliciously or with intent.” A Six Nations statement read.

“The Disciplinary Committee also highlighted that the player had accepted guilt at the earliest opportunity and shown immediate remorse on the field of play.”

Breakdown of Danty’s ban

After ruling that the incident warranted a mid-range entry point of six weeks suspension, the committee considered the following mitigating factors, which reduced and increased the length of his ban.

Mitigation: “The player’s apology, acknowledgement of guilt and good conduct at the hearing) were applied, reducing the six-week entry point by two weeks.”

Aggravation: “One further week was added for aggravating factors (the player’s disciplinary record), resulting in a five-week playing suspension.”

Danty has the opportunity to reduce his suspension by one week if he applies to take part in World Rugby’s Coaching Intervention Programme, aka ‘Tackle School’, which would make him eligible to feature in the Champions Cup round-of-16 clash with the Stormers on April 6.

The sanction is to be served as the following given the player’s upcoming schedule.

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The games he will miss

March 9 or 10, 2024 – La Rochelle vs Stade Français, Top 14 OR Wales vs France, Six Nations
March 16, 2024 – France vs England, Six Nations
March 23, 2024 – Bayonne vs La Rochelle, Top 14
March 30, 2024 – La Rochelle vs Oyonnax, Top 14
April 6, 2024 – Stormers vs La Rochelle, EPCR Champions Cup

Jonathan Danty’s supension details (via Six Nations).

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