England wing Henry Arundell has dodged a suspension after being sent off in Saturday’s Six Nations defeat by Scotland.
Steve Borthwick’s side were handed a reality check at Murrayfield as they suffered a 30-21 defeat, though they were made to play 30 minutes of the Calcutta Cup clash with 14 men on the pitch.
Arundell was shown a first yellow card early in the match for failing to release, and copped a second for taking out Kyle Steyn in the air shortly after his reintroduction.
He was sin-binned for 20 minutes as a result, and was sent to an independent disciplinary hearing to decide whether a further suspension was warranted.
The hearing, held early on Tuesday morning, ruled in his favour. Their decision read: “In the circumstances, the sending off of the player had been a sufficient sanction, and no further sanction was appropriate. The player is now free to play.”
The rationale added that Arundell admitted fault for both yellow card incidents.
Borthwick is now free to select Arundell for this weekend’s visit of Ireland, but it remains to be seen whether he will do so as England look to bounce back from the Scotland defeat.
The Bath star did redeem himself slightly with a late try at Murrayfield, but his rash decision-making left England considerably shorthanded.
He has also copped considerable criticism for his workrate in the match after footage emerged of him jogging back to defend a Scotland line break.
Speaking after the Scotland clash, Arundell’s team-mate Tommy Freeman said Arundell was quick to move on from the incident.
“He is pretty level-headed, pretty switched on, he is dealing with it fine,” said the Northampton Saints back. “The result is the result. You can’t really think about it too much, you have got next week to worry about. Training has been upbeat and we are excited to go.”
