New Zealand captain Sam Cane has been suspended for two matches following his red card against South Africa in the All Blacks’ 12-11 World Cup final defeat in Paris, World Cup has confirmed Rugby Monday. Cane will have to forfeit his new Japanese team Tokyo Sungoliath’s matches against local rivals Brave Lupus Tokyo (November 18) and Saitama Wild Knights (November 25). A ban for a third match was suspended on the condition that he take part in World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme, which Cane indicated he would do.
As a reminder, he received a yellow card, transformed into a red after examining the bunker, for a dangerous tackle on Springbok center Jesse Kriel in the 27th minute, becoming the first player to be sent off in a decisive Cup match of the world. Cane admitted misconduct to an independent judicial panel, but disputed that it did not warrant a red card. However, it was determined that there had been “direct and violent contact of the player’s shoulder with the head of the ball carrier” and that there had been no mitigation of the incident, World Rugby said in a statement. The commission halved the recommended sanction of six match suspensions due to Cane’s “exemplary disciplinary record, his rapid acknowledgment of the offense committed and his obvious remorse”, and removed another match at the end of the coach intervention program.