Vodacom Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee was exonerated by a disciplinary committee after a strange citing resulting from his yellow card during the Bulls win over Ulster in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship last weekend.
Despite Coetzee receiving the yellow card, and the bunker review process deciding it was just a yellow, an overly zealous citing commissioner decided to cite Coetzee, believing it transcended the red card threshold.
But the disciplinary committee found otherwise and felt the yellow card was sufficient punishment for the transgression.
"A Disciplinary Hearing has occurred related to Marcell Coetzee citing in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship Round 4 game against Ulster Rugby on Saturday, October 24," a statement from the URC said.
"The Citing Commissioner in charge reported Vodacom Bulls player no. 6 (Marcell Coetzee), for an act of foul play in the 43rd minute of the game under Law 9.20(a) and 9.20(b) – Dangerous play in a ruck or maul. (a) A Player must not charge into a ruck or maul. Charging includes any contact made without binding onto another player in the ruck of maul. (b) A Player must not make contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders.
"The Panel overseeing the disciplinary hearing Ben Rutherford (Chair – Ireland), Declan Goodwin and Chris Morgan (Wales), reviewed the incident and agreed that an act of foul play had occurred, the clean out was principally shoulder to body. The head contact was incidental and low force, corroborated by the evidence of both the Player and his opponent and medical team. The degree of danger was therefore low in accordance with the World Rugby Head Coach Process and the correct outcome was a yellow card, as issued by the Match Officials on the day.
"The Citing Complaint was not upheld and the Player is free to play this weekend."
Coetzee was selected on the bench for the Bulls game against Scarlets, the last URC fixture before the November test break.