Albert Nikoro receives four week suspension

Counties Manukau winger Albert Nikoro has been suspended from all rugby for four weeks after receiving a red card for a dangerous tackle in his team’s final match of the Mitre 10 Cup against Tasman on Saturday 14 October.

Nikoro was red carded for a dangerous tackle (law 10.4e) in the 65th minute of the match. Counties Manukau won the fixture 52-30.

New Zealand Rugby Duty Judicial Officer Helen Morgan who found the offending to be dangerous with the tackle involving a swinging arm that made direct contact with the head of the opponent, therefore making it a mid-range offence.

Morgan found an aggravating factor to be that the opponent failed his Head Injury Assessment concussion tests and therefore added one week to the entry-level sanction.

Nikoro does have a clean judicial record and acknowledged is wrongdoing with an early guilty plea, and therefore Morgan reduced the suspension from seven to four weeks.

The suspension will see Nikoro miss his next four scheduled matches