Exeter duo to miss Premiership play-offs after being handed four-week bans

Exeter duo Sam Skinner and Dave Ewers (Mike Egerton/PA)

Exeter forwards Sam Skinner and Dave Ewers have both been suspended and will miss the Chiefs’ Gallagher Premiership play-off against Sale on Saturday.

Scotland lock Skinner was sent off for a dangerous tackle during last weekend’s 20-19 regular-season victory over Sale, while flanker Ewers was cited for a dangerous tackle in the same game.

The Rugby Football Union said both players appeared before an online independent disciplinary panel and they each received a four-week ban.

It means they will also miss the Premiership final at Twickenham on June 26 if Exeter beat Sale.

The RFU said that both players contested the charges, but they were upheld by the disciplinary panel.

In a statement, the panel said: “Both cases involved direct contact with an opponent’s head that carried a high degree of danger.

“None of the mitigating factors set out in the World Rugby Head Contact Process which would have justified the red card otherwise being reduced to a yellow card were present.

“Neither player accepted the charge and so full mitigation credit was not available to them.”

AJ MacGinty is out injured for Sale (Martin Rickett/PA)

It is a major double setback for Exeter, who are bidding to reach a sixth successive Premiership final.

Victory over Sale at Sandy Park would book a Twickenham appointment with Bristol or Harlequins.

Sale, meanwhile, will also be without key players for the game, with fly-half AJ MacGinty and flanker Cameron Neild both sidelined because of injuries.