The Queensland Reds will fight Taniela Tupou's retrospective charge of foul play after SANZAAR found the pivotal prop had met the red card threshold during a clean-out against the Brumbies.
A bullocking Tupou shunted Jahrome Brown from the ruck in the first half of the Reds' tight loss in Canberra, referee Damon Murphy reviewing and clearing him of any discretion at the time.
The incident still found its way to Monday night's SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee meeting though, after further inspection of the footage had deemed it a red card offence for high contact.
That opinion was upheld, the Reds set to fight the charge on Wednesday night after knocking back what is understood to be a two-week suspension with an early guilty plea.
"Following initial consideration by the SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee, Taniela Tupou of the Reds will appear at a SANZAAR Judicial Committee Hearing after being cited for alleged foul play during a Super Rugby Pacific match at the weekend," a statement from SANZAAR read.
"Tupou is alleged to have contravened Law 9.20 Dangerous play in a ruck or maul, during the match between the Brumbies and Reds at GIO Stadium in Canberra on 18 March 2022.
The Judicial Committee for the Hearing will be Nigel Hampton QC (Chair), Helen Morgan and De Wet Barry which will be held by video conference on Wednesday 23 March 7pm(AEDT), 6pm(AEST)."
If unsuccessful, the Wallabies enforcer will, at minimum, miss Saturday's Suncorp Stadium home game against the NSW Waratahs and the spicy return of the Brumbies to Brisbane a week later.
"We're going to be fighting that," Reds co-captain Liam Wright said.
"We're under the impression that it was a bit hard done by; we felt that it was shoulder on shoulder, which I'm pretty sure was cleared with the TMO (television match official) on the night and played on.
"With the scrutiny we've got on the games at the moment and refs checking a lot of stuff, once it gets cleared on field we expect it to stay that way."
The decision compounded frustrations at Ballymore given Fraser McReight's failed chase of a ball for the match-winning try was not reviewed, despite clear evidence he had been obstructed.
The 16-12 loss dropped the Reds to 4-1 this season with the Waratahs (3-2) able to jump ahead of them into second on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder with a win on Saturday.
Hampered by injuries across the first five rounds, the Reds will likely welcome the return of fellow co-captain and line-breaking scrumhalf Tate McDermott.
The No.9 injured his ankle in the Reds' round-two defeat of the Waratahs and will be keen to re-establish himself among a deep field of Wallabies contenders in his position ahead of next year's World Cup.
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Whether Tupou joins McDermott for the grudge match, the Waratahs are refusing to buy into any suggestion the Reds would be vulnerable without his presence, having lost to the Tupou-less Reds in round two.
"'Nela is one of the best in the world, I can't see anyone being as strong and powerful as he is," Waratahs prop Angus Bell said.
"He's an unbelievable scrummager but we're pretty confident if he plays or if he doesn't, their reserve tighthead Feao (Fotuaika) is exactly the same. We know it's going to be a massive challenge there and they're all great at scrum time so there's going to be a big emphasis this week put on set-piece."
