Bristol Bears face an anxious wait to find out if one of their most influential and in-form players, Siale Piutau, will face a spell on the sidelines.
Centre Piutau has been in sensational form since rugby restarted last month and put in another standout performance alongside Semi Radradra on Friday night in the 13-36 defeat of Worcester Warriors.
The centre scored the Bears’ third try of the game in the 50th minute with a wonderful in to out line which saw him break a tackle before racing away to score under the posts. But he blotted his copy book late in the game after unnecessarily sparking a brawl in the 79th minute which saw the former Tonga captain earn a yellow card from referee Wayne Barnes and Worcester Warriors lock Andrew Kitchener sent off for punching.
There now looks likely to be further repercussions following confirmation from the RFU that both players have been called before a disciplinary panel this evening.
Andrew Kitchener of Worcester Warriors and Siale Piutau will both appear before an online independent disciplinary panel tonight (Monday 7 September 2020).
Piutau has been cited by independent citing commissioner Tony Diprose following the same match for punching or striking, contrary to World Rugby Law 9.12.
The independent disciplinary panel will be chaired by Matthew Weaver with Mitch Read and Chris Skaife.
The low end sanction for a striking offence is two weeks, the mid-range sanction is six weeks and the top end is 10+ weeks.
A maximum ban of 52 weeks is permitted.
Siale Piutau has already missed a significant chunk of the 2019/20 season after sustaining a serious knee injury in the draw with London Irish on December 1.
He was set to return to action the week the Gallagher Premiership was shut down due to the coronavirus.
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