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Munster's Arno Botha to face disciplinary hearing tomorrow

Munster's Arno Botha will attend a disciplinary hearing in London tomorrow ahead of this weekend'...



Munster's Arno Botha will attend a disciplinary hearing in London tomorrow ahead of this weekend's game against Saracens.

Botha was shown a red card in the closing stages of Saturday’s 10-3 Heineken Champions Cup win over this weekend's repeat opponents.

The South African was deemed to have struck Saracens' Nick Tompkins with his leading arm in the last minute of the game.

Botha will face an independent disciplinary committee comprised of chair Dan White (England), Frank Hadden (Scotland) and Marcello d’Orey (Portugal).

If the committee do find against Botha, he could face a minimum of two weeks on the sidelines.

Law 9.12 of World Rugby's guidelines on foul play relating to striking with the arm carries a sanction entry point of two weeks at the low end, six weeks in the mid-range and 10 to 52 weeks at the top end of the scale.

Botha had replaced CJ Stander in the 70th minute of Saturday's win at Thomond Park.

Johann Van Graan's side take on the Sarries' again this Saturday in a return fixture at Allianz Park at 3.00 pm.

Peter O'Mahony's first-half try was the key score in the weekend win - a result that leaves the southern province second in Pool 4 after three games.

The other Pool Four match on Saturday ended in a 40-19 win for Racing 92 over Ospreys.

Meanwhile, former Leinster coach Matt Williams says Munster's defence is "letting them down" this season, and thinks a Champions Cup win is out of their reach this season.

Williams, speaking on last night's Monday Night Rugby on Off the Ball, pointed to the 21-21 draw with Racing 92 last month as evidence for his concerns.

"I've said it so many times and we've seen the same defensive system from Munster in the last few years. They're standing their '9' Conor Murray in the defensive line.

"I fully understand the reasons why you do that and what the plusses are. But it leaves one man working in the back-field on their current system.

"And what we saw Racing do was cut them apart by short kicks - when you've only got one guy there. When Finn Russell kicked, there was no-one in the back-field.

"If they keep doing that and they did this in Bordeaux in a semi-final last year... you can't have one man in your secondary against these wonderfully gifted players with a short kicking game.

"You've got to have people working their bum off - it's hard - to get two or three people in that secondary line. Now, if Munster keep doing that, they'll lose. They're also missing first-up tackles."

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Arno Botha Munster Munster Rugby Off The Ball Rugby Saracens Thomond Park