Andre Esterhuizen suspended for four matches

South Africa centre Andre Esterhuizen has been handed a four game ban following his red card incident in the recently concluded game against Portugal.

Esterhuizen was initially sin-binned early in the encounter in Bloemfontein last Saturday for a dangerous tackle on Jose Lima. The decision was later upgraded to a red card.

Despite losing Esterhuizen in the third minute of the game, the Springboks went on to score 10 tries as they completed a 64-21 victory.

He faced an independent disciplinary hearing with the panel comprising of Matthew Weaver (England) along with Jamie Corsi (Wales) and Valeriu Toma (Romania) and the 30-year-old was initially handed a six-week ban that was reduced by two games taking into account the mitigating factors.

“The hearing was undertaken by an Independent Disciplinary Committee chaired by Matthew Weaver KC (England) and joined by former player Jamie Corsi (Wales) and former international referee Valeriu Toma (Romania)," read a statement from World Rugby.

“The player accepted that foul play had occurred and that the offence warranted a red card.

“The Committee considered the appropriate entry point for the offending and decided that the offence warranted the mandatory mid-end entry point for offending involving contact with the head of six matches.

“Having considered the mitigating factors, the Committee decided not to award full 50 per cent mitigation to the sanction resulting in a sanction of four matches.”