Wallaby cops four-week ban

DISCIPLINARY UPDATE: Saracens Will Skelton has been suspended for four weeks following his red card in the 27-24 win over Racing 92 in their European Champions Cup pool match last Sunday.

The 27-year-old former Australian international second-row forward will be available for European champions Saracens tough quarter-final against Ireland's four-time champions Leinster in Dublin in April.

The independent panel upheld Nigel Owens's decision to send off Skelton for a dangerous tackle on Racing 92's Brice Dulin a minute before half-time.

*Also read: Rugby Australia eye Saracens' Skelton

"The Committee upheld the red card decision, finding that Skelton had made contact with Dulin's head in a dangerous manner," read the statement.

"It then determined that the offence was at the mid-range of World Rugby’s sanctions and selected six weeks as the appropriate entry point.

"There were no aggravating factors, and taking into account the player’s guilty plea, good disciplinary record and expression of remorse, the Committee reduced the sanction by two weeks before imposing a four-week suspension."

Saracens showed remarkable resilience - just a few hours after they had been officially informed they would be relegated from the Premiership for breaching the salary-cap this season - for despite being a man down and trailing 17-21 at half-time they emerged victorious and scraped into the last eight as one of the three best runners-up.