Matt Proctor in possession for Northampton Saints during their defeat to Leinster last weekend.

Matt Proctor in possession for Northampton Saints during their defeat to Leinster last weekend.

CITING COMPLAINTS AGAINST three Northampton Saints players were dismissed after hearings held in London this afternoon.

The complaints against Lewis Bean, Andy Symons and Matt Proctor all stemmed from allegedly dangerous tackles during Saturday’s game against Leinster.

The English Premiership outfit suffered a 50-21 defeat to Leo Cullen’s side in their Heineken Champions Cup clash at the Aviva Stadium.

The independent disciplinary committee decided that the clash of heads between Bean and Cian Healy was accidental, and that there was no act of foul play that could have warranted a red card.

The committee also concluded that Symons wasn’t guilty of foul play as the primary contact with James Tracy had been shoulder-to-shoulder, and there had been no contact with Tracy’s head or neck area.

Unlike Symons and Bean, Proctor was adjudged to have committed an act of foul play. However, it was decided that his tackle on Ciaran Frawley did not warrant a red card.

The committee determined that the contact to Frawley’s head and neck area was indirect rather than direct, and therefore constituted an on-field mitigating factor under World Rugby’s high tackle decision-making framework.

All three players are free to play, with Northampton currently preparing for a Premiership fixture away to Sale Sharks on Saturday.

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