Yohan Orabé suspended until October 4 by Top 14 panel

Yohan Orabé will not return for Bayonne before October 4 after the club’s full-back received a three-week suspension for dangerous play. The sanction rules him out of three Top 14 fixtures: the home match against Clermont next weekend, the visit to Racing 92 on September 26 and the meeting with Stade Français on October 3.

Orabé was dismissed after only four minutes of Bayonne’s heavy defeat at Pau in the second round. The 24-year-old, from Saint-Palais, made a late charge on Pau winger Théo Attissogbé while the player was airborne attempting to catch a high ball. The incident brought a direct red card and a disciplinary hearing before the Ligue Nationale de Rugby.

The first disciplinary panel classified the offence as dangerous play involving contact with an opponent whose feet were off the ground. It set an eight-week starting point, reduced to six because of mitigating factors, including Orabé’s clean disciplinary record. Bayonne’s leaders rejected that decision and sent the case to the commission’s general affairs panel, where Orabé was able to present his defence.

That panel again found him responsible for dangerous play, citing the duty on players to avoid reckless actions, including charging with the forearm or jumping over a tackler. The initial six-week penalty was cut by half after further mitigating circumstances, leaving Orabé unavailable until October 4.