World Rugby and the Women's Six Nations confirm England hooker Amy Cokayne will be suspended for Saturday's game against Ireland at Twickenham (2.15pm kick-off); Cokayne was shown a red card in victory over Scotland, after two yellow cards for dangerous tackles; Ireland make two changes
Thursday 18 April 2024 12:41, UK
England hooker Amy Cokayne has been suspended for Saturday's Women's Six Nations game against Ireland at Twickenham, having been shown a red card against Scotland last week.
Cokayne was dismissed in the 55th minute of England's 46-0 win over Scotland, having been shown two yellows for dangerous tackles.
World Rugby and the Women's Six Nations confirmed Cokayne's actions were worthy of a red card offence, and she has been handed a one-game suspension, reduced from two weeks due to the full 50 per cent mitigation applied regarding her prior disciplinary record.
The result means Cokayne - who had only just returned from injury - will miss England's game with Ireland at Twickenham, in what is just the second standalone women's Test at the venue and likely to be played out in front of around 50,000 fans.
"England No 2, Amy Cokayne, today [Wednesday] appeared before an independent Disciplinary Committee via video link having received a red card as the result of two yellow cards issued for offences contrary to Laws 9.13 and 9.18 in the match between Scotland and England on Saturday 13th April 2024," a World Rugby statement read.
"Having accepted that the acts of foul play justified the red card and by applying World Rugby's sanctioning provisions, the Disciplinary Committee determined that a two-week entry point was appropriate with the full 50 per cent mitigation applied, reducing the sanction to one week.
"The suspension will cover the following match: 20 April 2024 - England vs Ireland, Six Nations."
England head coach John Mitchell was asked if he had any complaints post-match, and replied: "No. End of the day we encourage the girls to play on the edge. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don't. Amy has just come back.
"I guess it just creates awareness for all of us that we got to make sure that we get our tackle height right. I thought her first card was a little bit difficult I think because the player did return to safety in that instance, so it probably deserved a penalty but yeah, we will learn from the tackle height."
Ireland have made two changes to their side for the England match following their 36-5 bonus-point Six Nations victory over Wales.
Hannah O'Connor comes into the second row, while Aoife Dalton starts in the centre. There is one change on the bench, as Meabh Deely joins the replacements.
Ireland: 15. Lauren Delany, 14. Katie Corrigan, 13. Eve Higgins, 12. Aoife Dalton, 11. Béibhinn Parsons, 10. Dannah O'Brien, 9. Aoibheann Reilly; 1. Linda Djougang, 2. Neve Jones, 3. Christy Haney, 4. Dorothy Wall, 5. Hannah O'Connor, 6. Aoife Wafer, 7. Edel McMahon (c), 8. Brittany Hogan.
Replacements: 16. Clíodhna Moloney, 17. Niamh O'Dowd, 18. Sadhbh McGrath, 19. Fiona Tuite, 20. Shannon Ikahihifo, 21. Molly Scuffil-McCabe, 22. Enya Breen, 23. Méabh Deely.
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