PARIS (AP) — Portugal 1, Rugby World Cup judiciary 1.
The Portuguese won a case and lost a case when they faced the judiciary on Tuesday for two acts of foul play in the 28-8 loss to Wales on Saturday in Nice.
Winger Vincent Pinto was suspended for three games for his red card while No. 8 Rafael Simões was cleared to play immediately.
Pinto made a leaping catch in the 77th minute and, as he came down unbalanced, one of his boots clipped Wales wing Josh Adams in the face. The referee issued him a yellow card and a bunker review upgraded it to red.
At his hearing, Pinto denied he committed foul play.
But the panel said it was reckless, involved poor decision-making, and showed a lack of care for Adams. The head contact involved a high degree of danger, the panel added, and there were no mitigating factors.
Pinto will miss Portugal's second and third Pool C matches against Georgia on Saturday and Australia on Oct. 1. His availability for the last pool game against Fiji on Oct. 8 was subject to him undertaking tackle school.
Simões was cited after the match for a dangerous tackle. At his hearing he admitted to an act of foul play but didn't think it reached the red card threshold. The panel agreed, believing the force of the head contact was not sufficiently high enough. The citing was not upheld, and he was freed to play.
It was Simões' lineout take and flick down that set up Portugal's first Rugby World Cup try in 16 years for fellow back-rower Nicolas Martins.
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AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
