Ban rules Gray out of clash with Argentina

Richie Gray will not be available for Scotland’s match against Argentina on Saturday after he was handed a three-week ban for an incident in the defeat by New Zealand, writes Graham Bean.

The lock can reduce the ban from three weeks to two if he attends a coaching intervention programme but he will still miss this weekend’s match at Murrayfield and Glasgow Warriors’ game against Leinster on November 26.

A judicial committee found that, on the balance of probabilities, Gray committed an act of foul play because he “led with his elbow into the tackle area which was dangerous to others”. In its verdict, the committee said “there was contact with the head, the player had acted recklessly, there was a high degree of danger”.

The starting point for such an offence is a sixweek suspension but this was reduced to three due to mitigating factors, including Gray’s excellent disciplinary record.

Gray took part in the hearing via video link having been cited after the All Blacks game. He denied that he had committed an act worthy of a red card but the committee, chaired by Shao-ing Wang (Singapore), concluded there had been foul play.