Chiefs wing James Lowe has escaped sanction after being hauled before a SANZAR judiciary for picking up his third yellow card of the Super Rugby season.
Lowe was sent to the sinbin half an hour into his team's 16-15 loss to the Rebels in Melbourne on Saturday after kneeing centre Tamati Ellison's arm. Former All Black Ellison had been holding a frustrated Lowe's jersey off the ball.
It was a crucial piece of ill-discipline, with the penalty against Lowe meaning an apparent Chiefs try 60m upfield was over-ruled.
A third yellow card meant the 22-year-old automatically appeared before a judicial officer.
Nick Davidson QC ruled that because the second offence, a dangerous tackle against the Highlanders in round four, was later deemed legitimate by SANZAR, Lowe effectively had only two cases to answer.
The yellow card offence on Saturday was not the subject of a citing on its own so wasn't considered for a further sanction.
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