Itoje doubt for Saracens play-off run after dangerous Bath tackle

England lock made an upright tackle on Alfie Barbeary during his side’s 15-12 victory at the Recreation Ground

Saracens could be without Maro Itoje for their Premiership play-off run-in after the England lock was cited for a dangerous tackle against Bath on Friday evening.
Itoje was eventually yellow-carded for a tackle on Alfie Barbeary in the 29th minute of his team’s 15-12 victory after television match official (TMO) David Rose alerted Luke Pearce to the challenge.
Following a number of replays, both at normal speed and in slow-motion, Pearce sent Itoje to the sin bin with the rationale that the blow was not “flush” to Bearbeary’s head.
Predict that this is the angle that Saracens will highlight in their defence of Maro Itoje. Looks like most of impact is chest-on-chest, with tackler’s head either glancing carrier’s head or missing entirely: pic.twitter.com/ru4TbyYTzr
“It is head-on-head contact, it is foul play because four [Itoje] is upright,” Pearce explained. “It’s not a flush blow because it’s off his shoulder and then a little bit of contact with his head. It’s high danger mitigated, so it’s yellow.”
“It is high danger, because it is head-on-head,” Pearce later added to Ben Spencer, the Bath captain. “But because [the tackle] goes shoulder onto head, that’s a mitigating reason and that’s why it’s yellow and not red.”
Itoje will appear before an independent disciplinary hearing on Tuesday and could be handed a three-week ban. Even if that is reduced by a week on completion of World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme, commonly known as ‘tackle school’, the 29-year-old would still miss league fixtures against Bristol Bears and Sale Sharks.
A more severe sanction, although unlikely, would rule him out of the Premiership play-off semi-final, should Saracens secure qualification.
Saracens could argue that Itoje’s offence was not worthy of a red card. Owen Farrell, the club captain, insisted to Pearce at the time that Itoje and Barbeary collided in a “chest-on-chest” fashion.
As if to underline the difficulty of these split-second decisions, Johann van Graan, the Bath head coach, was adamant in a TNT Sports interview later in the first half that Itoje and Barbeary suffered a straightforward head clash.
“We’ll let the referee deal with it, but what I saw was head-on-head,” he said.