South African rugby player Henco Venter has been banned for six weeks after making contact with the eye of Dan Cole during Saturday’s Champions Cup victory over Leicester Tigers.
The Glasgow Warriors loose forward had scored two tries in the 43-19 win. While they advanced to the next round, the 33-year-old will miss the quarterfinal match and the remaining four United Rugby Championship games.
European Professional Club Rugby issued the following statement regarding the ban:
“Venter accepted he had committed an act of foul play, and that it would have warranted a red card, but that it was not intentional.”
Because the player admitted the foul and expressed remorse, along with having a clean disciplinary record, his suspension was reduced from 12 weeks to 6.
Glasgow’s attack coach, Nigel Carolan, described Venter as a good-natured person and emphasized there was no malicious intent in the incident:
“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.”
Venter will also join French club Brive at the end of the season.