Glasgow Warriors forward to appear before disciplinary committee over eye incident

Glasgow Warriors have defended Henco Venter after the No 8 was cited for making contact with the eye of Leicester Tigers prop Dan Cole during Saturday night’s Investec Champions Cup win over Leicester Tigers at Scotstoun.

Venter’s case will be heard before an independent disciplinary committee on Tuesday and the player could face a lengthy suspension if found guilty.

Nigel Carolan, Glasgow’s assistant coach, insists any contact with Cole was accidental but accepts the club will have to deal with the consequences.

Glasgow Warriors' Henco Venter scored two tries in the Investec Champions Cup win over Leicester Tigers at Scotstoun. | SNS Group

“What can I say about Henco?” said Carolan. “He played a fantastic game. He's a great player. He's a great person. Henco is a gentleman.

“If you know him off the field, he's got no ill intent. So whatever happened was an accident, but it happened. That's the protocols at the moment. If there's contact with the opposition face, be it whatever way it looks, we have to deal with the consequences of that, both him and ourselves.

“It would be unfortunate because he's such a good-natured person. It's not in his intention to hurt anyone or to cause harm, especially with all the cameras that are around. It's kind of silly, but it was just unfortunate and something that we'll just have to deal with.”

EPCR, the organisers of the European club rugby competitions, received a complaint from match citing commissioner Adrien Menez of France alleging contact with the eye of Cole in the second minute of the last-16 tie.

Venter, 33, scored two tries and was player of the match in the 43-19 win over Leicester, a result which secured Glasgow’s place in the Champions Cup quarter-finals. They will meet Leinster in Dublin in the last eight on Friday night, a match Venter could now miss through suspension.

Leicester Tigers prop Dan Cole. | SNS Group

The disciplinary hearing, will take place by video conference on Tuesday and the independent committee will be made up of Richard Whittam KC (England, chair), Ken Owens (Wales) and Marcello d’Orey (Portugal).

Venter's actions were potentially in contravention of Law 9.12(7) regarding “intentional contact with eye(s)” or the less serious Law 9.12(8) on “reckless contact with eye(s)”.

Under World Rugby’s ‘Sanctions for Foul Play’, Law 9.12(7) carries the following suspension entry points: Low-end – 12 weeks/matches; Mid-range – 18 weeks/matches; Top-end 24-208 weeks/matches.

The sanctions for Law 9.12(8) are: Low-end – 6 weeks/matches; Mid-range – 12 weeks/matches; Top-end 18-208 weeks/matches.

Stafford McDowall, Venter’s Glasgow Warriors team-mate, was suspended for three weeks for an eye incident in the Champions Cup pool match against Toulon away in December.

On that occasion, the player accepted he had made “reckless contact with the eye of an opponent” and the disciplinary panel decided the offending was at the low-end of the scale of seriousness, imposing an entry point of six weeks’ suspension.

McDowall received a three-week reduction in the length of his suspension due to his good disciplinary record and timely acceptance of the charge and was banned for three weeks.

Venter has been a key player for Glasgow since joining the club ahead of the 2023-24 season, helping the Warriors win the United Rugby Championship. He announced last month that he would be leaving at the end of this campaign to join the French club Brive.