Chris Ashton has had his red card overturned and been freed to rewrite the ending to his eventful career.
The former England wing, who retires this summer, was sent off on Saturday for a dangerous tackle on Harlequins wing Cadan Murley which appeared to rule him out of Leicester’s post-season.
But Tigers successfully argued that the offence was worthy of no more than a yellow card and Ashton can play in Sunday’s play-off semi-final at Sale.
In a hearing lasting nearly five hours the panel was shown numerous angles of the tackle, many of which had not been available to referee Ian Tempest. Murley also testified that the initial contact on him was on his shoulder.
Panel chair Gareth Graham said: “Mr Ashton accepted committing an act of foul play that would have merited a yellow card.
“Having seen and heard all the evidence, including that of Mr Murley, who gave a clear account as to the point of contact and the level of force involved in the tackle, the panel agreed with the submission that this was a yellow card offence.”
