England No8 Sarah Beckett banned after leg-breaking croc roll tackle

England No8 Sarah Beckett will miss the next three rounds of the Guinness Six Nations after she was given a ban for her red-carded tackle on Italy centre Michela Sillari.

The English forward was yellow carded 11 minutes into last Sunday’s opening-round match in Parma, but her foul play was upgraded to red five minutes later following a review by the TMO bunker.

Losing a player to a sending-off so earlier in the game wasn’t pivotal as eight-try England went on to win the match 48-0.

England Women’s coach John Mitchell on the Red Roses squad

England Women’s coach John Mitchell on the Red Roses squad

However, Beckett is now unavailable to John Mitchell’s side for the upcoming fixtures against Wales, Scotland and Ireland following the tackle that left the Italian midfielder with a broken leg.

A Six Nations statement read: “England No8 Sarah Beckett appeared before an independent disciplinary committee via video link having received a red card for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.20 (d) in the match between Italy and England on March 24.

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“The independent disciplinary committee consisted of Juan Pablo Spirandelli (chair, Argentina), Jamie Corsi (Wales) and Bogdan Zebega (Romania). The player admitted that she had committed an act of foul play but contended that it had not been worthy of a red card.

“However, the disciplinary committee – having considered all the available evidence and submissions from the player and her representatives – upheld the red card decision.

“As for sanction, by applying World Rugby’s mandatory sanctioning provisions, the disciplinary committee determined that the incident warranted a mid-range entry point of six weeks suspension.

“Mitigating factors (the player’s remorse, good character and exemplary conduct at the hearing) were applied, reducing the six-week entry point by the full 50 per cent to three weeks.”

The Sarah Beckett suspension covers the following matches:
March 30 – England vs Wales, Six Nations
April 13 – Scotland vs England, Six Nations
April 20 – England vs Ireland, Six Nations