AUSTRALIA FORWARD DARCY Swain will miss the rest of the series against England after being suspended for two weeks by a judicial committee on Wednesday for a headbutt in the first Test.
Swain was found guilty of foul play during Australia’s 30-28 win in Perth, having been shown a red card when he retaliated to opposite number Jonny Hill in the 34th minute.
The 25-year-old will miss the Saturday’s second Test and the third on July 16, but is free to play immediately afterwards, having had the severity of his punishment downgraded.
The independent judiciary rejected Swain’s contention that the incident didn’t warrant a red card but found elements of mitigation.
“The committee deemed the act of foul play merited a low-end entry point of six weeks given the provocation before the incident, low degree of force exerted by the player and that no injury was caused to the victim. This resulted in a starting point of a six-week suspension,” World Rugby said in a statement.
“Having acknowledged mitigating factors, including the player’s acknowledgement of foul play, clean disciplinary record, conduct at the hearing and expression of remorse, the committee granted the player full mitigation of 50 per cent.”
The suspension was reduced further to two weeks after the committee determined that a three-week punishment would be “wholly disproportionate given the level and nature of the offence”.
Australia will also reportedly be without Quade Cooper for the rest of the series, after the fly-half suffered a calf strain during the warm-up for the first Test and was replaced by Noah Lolesio.
The Sydney Morning Herald said Cooper, 34, had undergone scans which rule him out of the second Test in Brisbane on Saturday and almost certainly the third in Sydney a week later.
