World Cup 2023: All Blacks setback as prop Ethan de Groot cops two-match suspension

First-choice All Blacks loosehead prop Ethan de Groot will miss the next two games of the Rugby World Cup after facing an independent judicial committee hearing in Paris.

De Groot fronted the three-member panel on Monday (early Tuesday NZT) after being red-carded for a shoulder-first charge on replacement Namibian forward Adriaan Booysen in the 72nd minute of Saturday’s runaway 71-3 World Cup victory in Toulouse. He was charged with an offence contrary to Law 9.16 (charging without attempting to grasp the opponent).

He was found guilty of foul play and after mitigating circumstances were taken into account was handed a three-match ban. This is reduced to two on the player’s completion of World Rugby’s Coaching Intervention Programme.

At the hearing De Groot admitted he had committed an act of foul play, but maintained the red-card threshold had not been met and challenged the Fou