Australia’s KEPU banned for three weeks over shoulder charge

Australia’s KEPU banned for three weeks over shoulder charge

SYDNEY: Australia prop Sekope Kepu has been hit with a three-week ban for a shoulder charge on Scotland’s Hamish Watson during the Wallabies’ 53-24 loss at Murrayfield last Saturday.

An independent disciplinary committee appointed by World Rugby handed out the sanction after Kepu was shown a red card in the first half for the incident, which saw Watson being struck on the head.

The committee said on Tuesday that Kepu had been allowed the “maximum discount of 50 percent and reduced the length of the suspension to three weeks” due to his prior clean disciplinary record and his admission of wrongdoing.

Saturday’s match was the Wallabies’ final outing of the year and so the ban will come into force in 2018.