Ireland star to miss Scotland Six Nations clash after being hit with huge ban

O’Toole was dismissed on 31 minutes while playing for his club Ulster against Munster in the United Rugby Championship on December 20. The 26-year-old was shown a red card by referee Ben Whitehouse at the Kingspan Stadium when he dropped his body on to Alex Nankivell’s leg while at a ruck, breaching Law 9.20e, and causing a hamstring tendon injury to his opponent.

While Ulster believed the red card was “tough” on O’Toole at the time, the URC’s judicial officer Sheriff Kathrine Mackie from Scotland deemed that incident was sufficient of a dismissal and that the sanction could be worthy of ten weeks. However, because O’Toole admitted his foul play and made his apologies, his suspension was set at six weeks.

An update from the URC read: “The Disciplinary process related to Tom O'Toole's Red Card in the BKT United Rugby Championship Round 8 game against Munster on Friday, December 20 has resulted in a six-game suspension.

“After an act of foul play by Ulster player No 3 (Tom O'Toole), referee Ben Whitehouse showed the Player a Red Card in the 31st minute of the game under Law 9.20e – Dangerous play in a ruck or maul. A player must not drop their weight onto an opponent or target the lower limbs.

“In the Player’s responses to the Judicial Officer overseeing the disciplinary process (Sheriff Kathrine Mackie, Scotland), he had accepted that he had committed an act of foul play which warranted a Red Card. Sheriff Mackie found that the incident met the Red Card threshold, with entry point of top end warranting ten weeks. The Player received four weeks (40%) mitigation for his admission of foul play, immediate apology and again post-match.

“The Munster player No 12 (Alex Nankivell) was unable to continue to play and with further assessment it was confirmed he injured his hamstring tendon. Due to the Player receiving another Red Card for foul play in 2022, not all mitigating factors were applied. This results in a six-game suspension.”

Consequently, O’Toole will miss Ulster’s next four matches against Connacht (URC), Leicester Tigers (Champions Cup), Exeter Chiefs (Champions Cup) and Zebre (URC), and is also ruled out of Ireland’s opening Six Nations matches against England on Saturday, February 1 and Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday, February 9.

In an addition to the explanation of O’Toole’s sanction, the disciplinary update added: “Confirmation was received from Ireland's interim Head Coach Simon Easterby that the Player has been a constant member of the Ireland Senior squad since debut in 2021. Barring injury or suspension he would be included in the 2025 Guinness Six Nations squad with a very good chance of being a named in the match day squad. In these circumstances it is appropriate that Ireland's first two matches are included.”

Capped 16 times by Ireland, O’Toole would have been in the running to play against Scotland, although Easterby does have a number of options in the front row, including Finlay Bealham, Tom Clarkson, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy and Andrew Porter.