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Jesse Kriel with Springboks fans. James Crombie/INPHO

Springboks centre Kriel free to face Ireland as he won't be cited

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend had felt the incident was worth reviewing.

SPRINGBOKS CENTRE JESSE Kriel won’t be cited for a possible high tackle early in his side’s Pool B win over Scotland in Marseille last night.

The South African centre tackled Scotland number eight Jack Dempsey early in the game and there appeared to be head contact involved, but the incident was not flagged with referee Angus Gardner by TMO Ben Whitehouse for an official review.

Speaking after the game, Scotland boss Gregor Townsend shared his surprise that there hadn’t been a formal review of the incident.

There had been some speculation that Kriel could be cited for his tackle, but that won’t be the case.

It’s understood that Whitehouse did examine the incident during the game but didn’t find clear and obvious illegal head contact. And while the official 36-hour citing window remains open until tomorrow morning, it appears that the citing commissioner hasn’t seen illegal head contact either. Both officials benefit from access to around 15 different camera angles.

Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said today that it hadn’t been a direct head contact.

“We are really comfortable. There hasn’t been a citing, I’m pretty sure there won’t be a citing,” said Erasmus.

“If it isn’t direct head contact, and it wasn’t, it was tackled on the ball and then he moved up after tackling on the ball. I’ve seen a few stills where people just [show] after direct contact to the ball.

“If you took it a millisecond or a second or two back, you’ll see that he clearly tackled on the ball. So we’re very happy with how it was refereed.

“I think Finn Russell’s call [when he was penalised for a no-arms challenge on Kurt-Lee Arendse] was much closer. Unfortunately, he got injured then, I think that deflected a little bit from the action that he did, but we were happy with the decision that was made.

“Obviously, there’s some time to do citings still but I’ll be very surprised for the indirect contact, with first contact on the ball, that there will be anything from that.”

It means that Kriel should be available for the Springboks against Ireland in their huge Pool B clash in Paris on 23 September.

The South Africans face Romania in their second pool game next weekend but it’s expected that Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber will rotate for that fixture.

Kriel could still play against the Romanians, of course, but if he comes through unscathed, he looks certain to start at outside centre against Ireland.

- This article was updated at 6.39pm to correct the duration of the citing window from 24 hours to 36 hours.

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    Mute David A Roberts
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    Apr 25th 2019, 12:39 AM

    ‘Dont do anything rash…’
    But Ole he didn’t do anything :-)

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    Mute fergusob
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    Apr 25th 2019, 12:39 AM

    10yrs behind on tonight’s performance on and off pitch Woodward is killing the club more worried about apps and twitter than fcuk all else. Ole is not the right manager either, stupid decision to give him the job full time.

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    Mute Adam MacCarthaigh
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    Apr 25th 2019, 12:45 AM

    @fergusob: bit early to call it on Ole. He did a good job so far with a terrible squad. The recent performances are symbolic of a group that’s released it can’t win anything and can’t fall lower than 6th. If it’s still this way next Christmas you can make a call on Ole. But harsh call to make now. He delivered a lot of wins and the PSG game away.

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    Mute Anthony Shoulderhead
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    Apr 25th 2019, 12:52 AM

    Can’t believe the amount of people that thought utd would take points off City, it was ridiculous to even think it. City are too strong for everyone.

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    Mute Tricksy
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    Apr 25th 2019, 1:09 AM

    @Anthony Shoulderhead: not a hope united would beat city ? A pxss poor Everton team whacked them , after they got whacked by a relegated team at Fulham ! The week before , the writing was on the wall Tony .

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    Mute Anthony Shoulderhead
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    Apr 25th 2019, 1:14 AM

    @Tricksy: I knew it and so did anyone with a grain of sense, unfortunately the pool fans were clutching. Probably looking at Spurs and Utd as potential banana skins on the run in. Utd couldn’t beat eggs at the minute. In fact that’s probably gonna be City’s easiest game out of the last 4 they will play.

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    Mute Beer Belly 0476
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    Apr 25th 2019, 1:30 AM

    @Anthony Shoulderhead: lifelong arab City fan?

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    Mute Tricksy
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    Apr 25th 2019, 1:05 AM

    I think the players were very relieved mou was sacked , and got a whole new lease of life with ole as intern manager , while never for a minute thinking he would get the job ,hoping for a big name shrewd tactician to be brought in . Many problems need sorting , and leaders on and off the pitch required .

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