Ireland prop Andrew Porter has avoided a ban after his citing case for a high tackle during his side’s Test series-clinching win over New Zealand was dismissed.
Porter was yellow-carded by referee Wayne Barnes following a head-on-head collision with All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick in the second half of Ireland’s historic 32-22 victory.
However, match citing commissioner James Sherriff reported the Irish forward, who faced a disciplinary hearing via video link on Tuesday.
Retallick suffered a fractured cheekbone in the incident and is expected to be side-lined for at least six weeks.
An independent panel accepted Porter’s argument that while he had committed an act of foul play, the red card threshold had not been met.
“Having considered all the evidence, the independent committee applied World Rugby’s Head Contact Process and agreed with the match officials’ on-field decision that the player’s act of foul play for a breach of Law 9.13 did not meet the red card threshold due to the absorbing nature of the tackle,” a World Rugby statement read.
“On that basis, the independent committee deemed the act of foul play did not merit further sanction, and the citing complaint was dismissed.”
Saturday’s victory in Wellington was just a second-ever win for Ireland in New Zealand and came a week after their first, which squared the series at 1-1.
The result moved Ireland to the top of the world rankings for just the second time since World Rugby launched its rankings system 19 years ago.
Andy Farrell’s men go above France, having also broken the 90-point rating mark for the first time, standing on 90.03, with France 0.62 behind.
Ireland previously headed the rankings for a two-week spell in September 2019.
