Argentina’s Mariano Galarza has been banned from the rest of the Rugby World Cup after being found guilty of eye gouging All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick in Sunday’s pool C clash.
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Galarza was found guilty of “acts contrary to good sportsmanship” under Law 10.4(m) for “making contact with the eye or the eye area”.
‘Due to the need to deter such acts of foul play, he added an additional period of one week.
Argentina are awaiting written notification of the sanction in order to appeal against it within the permitted 48-hour period and believe they can prove it bears no relation to what happened in the match.
“[The UAR board] fully supports what Mariano Galarza said and this UAR maintained at the [disciplinary] hearing held yesterday to the effect that there is no evidence of a situation of illicit play on the part of the player”, it read.
Matias Alemanno comes in at lock for Guido Petti, who has not recovered from a knock to the head he sustained during his try-scoring performance in the 26-16 defeat to New Zealand.
Javier Ortega Desio is brought in for the suspended Galarza on the replacements bench.
Coach Daniel Hourcade was going to name his team to face Georgia at midday but postponed the announcement until the evening at the team’s Cheltenham hotel, near Gloucester.
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Meanwhile full-back Merab Kvirikashvili is in line to continue his record of playing in every World Cup match for Georgia, with Friday’s fixture set to be his 14th appearance at the tournament.
