Toulouse centre Santiago Chocobares gets final reprieve as he’s sent to ‘tackle school’ for dangerous hit
Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Toulouse’s Argentina centre Santiago Chocobares will be free to face Leinster in next week’s Champions Cup final as long as he completes World Rugby’s tackle intervention programme, commonly known as ‘tackle school’.
The Puma has been hit with a three-week ban for a dangerous tackle on Harlequins player Luke Northmore during the French side’s semi-final win, but the final week of that suspension will disappear if he completes the programme.
The ban was already mitigated down from six weeks on the back of Chocobares’ guilty plea and good prior record after the hearing heard from the player, his coach Ugo Mola, the player’s lawyer Neil Robertson, Toulouse president Didier Lacroix and EPCR’s disciplinary officer Liam McTiernan.
Chocobares was not penalised during the match, but the incident was picked up by Citing Commissioner Beth Dickson and referred to a three-person disciplinary committee comprised of Irishman Benjamin Rutherford, Romania’s Valeriu Toma and Scotland’s Roddy McCleod who deemed that the tackle warranted a red card.
The offence was found to be at the mid-range of the scale.
Chocobares was introduced as a second-half replacement during the 47-19 win and is now in contention to face Leinster.
Toulouse, like Leinster, are likely to rest the majority of their frontliners when they play Montpellier this weekend.
