Edinburgh centre George Taylor has been handed a three-match ban following his red-card for a dangerous tackle on opposite number Antonio Rizzi during his team’s gritty victory over Zebre last month. The initial ‘entry point’ for that sort of offence is six weeks, but the suspension was halved in recognition of mitigating factors including admission that his actions warranted a red card, remorse shown during the proceedings and a previously clean disciplinary record.
A low-key ‘A’ team which has been scheduled against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun tomorrow afternoon will be one of the games which count towards his time on the naughty step, while the 24-year-old will also miss his team’s away match against Dragons on 12th February and the visit of Munster to Murrayfield on 20th February, before becoming available to play again against Scarlets on Saturday 27th February.
A statement issued by league organisers PRO14 yesterday afternoon explained that ‘A’ team fixtures arranged by a union with the specific intent to prepare players for first-team games are considered as meaningful and therefore relevant to the playing ban notice.
A tweet by Edinburgh soon after the ban was announced confirmed that the ‘A’ game – which had been discussed by both sets of coaches during the last fortnight but without a date provided – is now going ahead on Thursday afternoon. The capital side will name their team today, and while the match is principally to give a run—out to the raft of fringe and academy players who have had very little game-time this season, it is likely that Taylor would also have been involved given that he has played only five minutes since the start of November.
Ironically, Taylor had just come off the bench when he picked up his red-card after three-months out with facial injuries following a dangerously high tackle on him by Josh Helps of Scarlets, which resulted in the Welsh second-row picking up a five-match suspension.
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