Scotland entitled to breathe huge sigh of relief over Zander Fagerson verdict

The sense of relief within the Scotland camp when the verdict came through from Zander Fagerson’s disciplinary hearing would have been palpable.

As much as the qualities of the other tightheads in the group were talked up following Fagerson’s red card against France, to lose the Glasgow Warriors prop for part or all of the World Cup would have been calamitous. As it was, the disciplinary gods smiled kindly on Fagerson who was handed a three-match ban which, crucially, will be reduced to two if he participates in a coaching intervention programme “aimed at modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play”. It means that while he’ll be suspended for this Saturday night’s rematch with France in Saint-Étienne and the final warm-up game against Georgia at Murrayfield on August 26, he will be available for the World Cup opener against South Africa in Marseille on September 10, provided he successfully completes the coaching programme.

It’s a great outcome for Scotland who have not always emerged well from these disciplinary hearings. Indeed, Fagerson himself was handed a four-match ban for a previous red card, against Wales in the 2021 Six Nations. On that occasion, the player contested the decision, arguing his offence did not merit a red card. The committee disagreed. On Tuesday, when he attended his latest hearing via video link, it was clear there was an early admission of guilt for connecting with the head of France hooker Pierre Bourgarit as he attempted a ruck clear-out. The committee noted “the player’s admission at the earliest opportunity, his remorse which was conveyed to the French player as well as shown during the hearing”.

But what was perhaps key to the more lenient sentence was that the committee agreed - after listening to submissions made on behalf of the player - to amend Fagerson’s offence to a breach of Law 9.20 (b) which covers: “Dangerous play in a ruck or maul. A player must not make contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders.” He had been initially charged with an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.20 (a) on dangerous play in a ruck or maul which states that: “A player must not charge into a ruck or maul. Charging includes any contact made without binding onto another player in the ruck or maul.” It was an infringement of Law 9.20 (a) that landed Fagerson a four-game ban in 2021 following his red card against Wales for a high clear-out on opposing prop Wyn Jones.

Against France, Fagerson was initially shown a yellow card by referee Ben O’Keeffe but the decision was later upgraded to red in one of the first uses of the ‘Bunker’ foul play review system at Test level.

Given the ferocious scrummaging abilities of the Springboks, it will come as a huge boost to Scotland to have Fagerson available to face the World Cup holders in a month’s time. As his long-time front-row sidekick Fraser Brown noted in The Scotsman this week: “Zander is undoubtedly Scotland’s best tighthead, and not just from a scrummaging point of view. He’s so important to how Scotland play around the park, particularly in attack. He’s a great ball-carrier, very industrious and, defensively, he puts lots and lots of pressure on defensive rucks.”