England winger Lydia Thompson appeared before an independent judicial committee on Monday, 21 November having received a red card in the Rugby World Cup 2021 final on 12 November, 2022. The red card was awarded for an offence pursuant to Law 9.13 (Dangerous tackle).
The independent Disciplinary Committee was chaired by Jennifer Donovan (Ireland), joined by former players Olly Kohn (Wales) and Sarah Smith (Scotland).
The player accepted that she had committed the act of foul play and that the offence was worthy of a red card. Having considered the player’s evidence and reviewed the clips, the Committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head. This resulted in a starting point of a six match suspension.
The Committee took into consideration the mitigating factors and decided that the player was entitled to the full mitigation available (three matches). The Committee decided there were no aggravating factors and therefore the final sanction was a three-match suspension.
The player is therefore suspended for the following matches:
- Worcester Women v Wasps Women – 17 December, 2022
- Worcester Women v DMP Sharks – 31 December, 2022
- Worcester Women v Gloucester-Hartpury – 7 January, 2023*
*The player may apply to take part in the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme to substitute the final match of the sanction for a coaching intervention aimed at modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play. Further information can be found here.
The player has the right of appeal within 48 hours of the issuing of the full written decision, which will appear here once published.
Click here to watch the video that explains how rugby’s disciplinary process works.
Visit World Rugby’s dedicated disciplinary process education and information page here.
