Eastmond banned for six weeks

Kyle Eastmond has been banned for six weeks after pleading guilty of two separate offences in his side’s clash with Harlequins last weekend.

Eastmond appeared before an independent disciplinary panel this evening.

He was shown a red card by referee Wayne Barnes for a dangerous tackle on Harlequins’ Marcus Smith contrary to law 9.13 in the 17th minute of the match.

The Wasps man was also cited by independent citing commissioner Paul Burke for a separate dangerous tackle on Harlequins’ Ross Chisholm, contrary to law 9.13, in the 15th minute of the same match.

Eastmond pleaded guilty to the charges. He was given a six-week suspension and is free to play again on 17th April 2018.

Panel chairman Sean Enright said: “The panel determined that each individual offence merited a mid-range entry point of six weeks.

“Thereafter, the player was entitled to full 50 per cent mitigation on account of his guilty plea, clear record and remorse for both incidents.

“This reduced the sanction on each charge to three weeks. The panel determined that these periods should run consecutively, meaning a total ban of six weeks.

“We were satisfied that the running of the sanctions consecutively was proportionate to the level of overall offending to all of the circumstances.”