Grant Gilchrist has been ruled out of Scotland's Six Nations opener against Wales due to a match suspension.
The lock has been suspended for one week following an independent Disciplinary Hearing arising from the EPCR Challenge Cup Round 4 match against Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets.
Gilchrist was sent off by the referee, Sara Cox (England), in the 72nd minute of the match following a second yellow card offence. Both yellow cards were for dangerous tackles.
An independent Judicial Officer, Gareth Graham (England), who conducted the case on a papers-only basis, found that Gilchrist had committed two similar offences in that he made two dangerous tackles that both warranted yellow cards.
The Judicial Officer decided that an appropriate sanction entry point for the offending was one week, however, despite the player’s acceptance of the charge and his full co-operation with the disciplinary process, mitigation could not be applied in this instance as any period of suspension has to be rounded up to a whole number of weeks.
A suspension of one week was therefore imposed and as Gilchrist would have been considered for selection for Scotland’s Guinness Six Nations match against Wales on Saturday 3 February, he is free to play from Monday 5 February.
Both the player and EPCR have the right to appeal the decision.
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