Senior Wales players have called for Scotland lock Scott Murray to escape suspension after he was sent off in yesterday’s Six Nations Championship clash at the Millennium Stadium.
Murray was given his marching orders just 22 minutes into Scotland’s 28-18 defeat after he retaliated to a late tackle from Ian Gough by lashing out with his boot and catching the Wales lock in the face.
The Scot apologised immediately and shook hands with Gough on the field but under International Rugby Board (IRB) regulations the former Scotland captain still faces a ban of anything up to 12 months.
But Gough, his secondrow partner Robert Sidoli and Wales captain Gareth Thomas have all provided glowing character references and urged the disciplinary officials to show leniency.
Sidoli, whose role as Wales lineout coordinator was made easier by Murray’s dismissal, said: "It looked a lot worse than it was. I don’t think there was any intent there.
"The authorities have got to look at that and hopefully he will be all right.
"I hope there’s no a ban because there was no intention at all and hopefully any disciplinary committee will look carefully at it."
Thomas described Murray as "a great professional and a great bloke" and said: "It takes a man to apologise after what he did and sometimes people do see red in international rugby."
Gough was sin-binned for his tackle - described by team-mate Adam Jones as "about an hour late" - but he felt for Murray when referee Steve Walsh brandished the red card.
"I mistimed a tackle on him from behind as I didn’t see the ball had gone," said Gough, who was sporting two black eyes this morning. "He just lashed out as a reaction, something we’ve all done in the past, but his boot caught me in the head.
"Scott’s a great competitor, I’ve had lots of tough battles with him and it’s a shame he had to go off."
Murray issued a statement last night defending himself ahead of a disciplinary hearing, which is likely to be convened in London this week.
"I am not a dirty player," he said. "The incident was a complete accident and I would never intend to injure an opponent in that way. I apologised to Ian and to the referee immediately I realised what had happened."
