Queensland Reds coach Les Kiss said co-captain Tate McDermott has been left reeling by his "uncharacteristic" swinging arm in the Super Rugby Pacific loss to Moana Pasifika, an indiscretion that earned him a red card and, as of Monday night, a three-game suspension.
After a third straight loss, McDermott was outed by the Super Rugby Pacific foul play review committee (FPRC) after receiving a red card for striking Irie Papuni with a swinging arm while bringing him to ground in a tackle.
With no prior foul play issues, McDermott's ban was reduced from six weeks down to three on account of his good record and an early guilty plea, though the hot-stepping No. 9 will still leave a massive hole at a time when the Reds' season has hit the skids.
"He's ridden that hard, as he would, it's uncharacteristic," Kiss said. "There's a situation there that's now been dealt with, we'll move on, Tate will add value around the place just like other players who are injured... he'll work his way back and do the things off the pitch now that he can."
Making matters worse for the Reds is the fact that star Wallabies flanker Fraser McReight was also suspended for three weeks for a high tackle on William Havili later in Queensland's 17-14 defeat in Whangarei.
"It's not ideal that's for sure, but it wasn't ideal in the game either, it was fairly costly as we saw," Kiss said. "But that's what the reality is and we have to deal with that. The opportunity in this now is to give a little bit more opportunity to players that have been playing off the bench for us and also for other players in the program to step up as well."
In its findings, the FPRC said the "entry point" of suspensions for McDermott's offence was six weeks, assessed as "mid-range for intentional and deliberate physical abuse of striking with arm to the side of the victim player's head where the victim player was in a vulnerable position with limited ability, if any, to defend himself".
McDermott was, however, given a three-week "discount" for an early guilty plea, and other mitigating factors including remorse and a prior exemplary disciplinary record.
Of McReight's hit, the FPRC said: "The FPRC was concerned by the 'upright nature of the tackle' and determined that it was an 'always illegal' act of foul play.
"In those circumstances mitigation would not apply," it said in a statement.
The suspensions for both Reds extend up to and including May 4, meaning they will miss that day's fixture against the Crusaders, but can return against the Melbourne Rebels on Friday, May 10.
Queensland have now slid to sixth on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder, going from 3-1 to 3-4.
Still, Kiss doesn't believe the Reds' game against the Highlanders on Friday night in Brisbane is "make or break", suggesting the scramble for the last couple of positions in the top eight would go down to the final weeks.
"I don't think so. We had a massive surge at the beginning of the year, we had a great expectation at the start of the year and we met that, and now there is a new expectation about how we can respond to this, so it's just part of the journey," Kiss said.
"If you look [at it], there is one frontrunner at the moment, that's the Hurricanes, and the other teams are all still within that striking distance down to about the last three. I said it earlier in the year, it's going to be a pretty tight challenge in that mid-table range and we're in that hunt, so we've just got to keep doing better than we have in the last three weeks, no doubt, in terms of the results.
"But this is just the reality of the moment, seasons have their ups and downs, we've got our little bit of a challenge at the moment."