Herrera to miss Italy Test

SANZAAR Duty Judicial Officer Michael Heron accepted a guilty plea from Herrera for contravening Law 10.4 (h) A player must not charge into a ruck or maul, after he was red carded during the match.

Herrera charged into an opponent on the ground and made contact with his opponent's head in the match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on 27 May 2016.

Herrera received a sanction of one week (covering one scheduled match) with his next scheduled match being Argentina v Italy, June 11. Consequently he is suspended up to and including Saturday 11 June 2016.

"The player, Stephan Weyers [counsel], Greg Peters [Jaguares CEO], Rafael Laria [Jaguares Manager] and an interpreter attended the call," said Heron. "Andreas Ramos, SAANZAR JO, attended also as an observer.

"The player accepted the charge. I agreed with Weyers that the charge should be under Law 10(4)(h) as the opponent player did not have the ball. The player was remorseful and apologised to the opponent player on field before he left as a result of the red card.

"I accepted the submission that this was low end offending, it was not intentional, no injury resulted and the only negative impact on the game was to the Jaguares and Herrara. Herrara has an exemplary disciplinary record, this being his first red card or citing.

"For that reason, I indicated a low end entry point under 10(4)(h) of two weeks. Because of his conduct, his remorse and his exemplary playing record, I was prepared to reduce that by one week to a resulting suspension of one week [covering one match] and I gave that indication.

"The next scheduled fixture for the player was an international match on June 11 for Argentina against Italy. Accordingly, the suspension imposed is for one match [being that international match on June 11) but takes effect from today up to and including June 11 [to include the one scheduled match]."