Intentional contact with the eye sees Newcastle winger banned for 9 weeks

Newcastle wing Mateo Carreras has been given a nine-week suspension for making intentional contact with the eye area of Wasps back Josh Bassett.

Carreras accepted the charge for the incident that occurred in the Falcons’ 20-18 Gallagher Premiership defeat last Friday when appearing before an independent disciplinary hearing.

The Argentinian will be free to play on June 15, depending on Newcastle’s progress in the Challenge Cup.

image via the RFU

“The player’s evidence was that he had intended to ‘irritate’ the Wasps player but that he had not intended to cause any harm in his action,” the panel said.

“He accepted, on reflection, that by making contact with the eye of Josh Bassett he risked causing serious injury, though this was a momentary action without thought for the consequences.”

Carreras’ offence was considered mid-range, carrying a sanction of 18 weeks, which was halved on mitigation grounds.

Match footage was not conclusive but you can see the moment it happened in the highlights below