Western Province’s prospects of reaching their first Currie Cup Final in almost a decade may be dealt a crippling blow.It was confirmed on Sunday that hooker Deon Fourie will appear before a South African Rugby Union judicial hearing, after he was cited for foul play during the Premier Division game against the Sharks on Saturday.

Fourie was cited under Law 10.4 (M) – for an act contrary to good sportsmanship.

The Western Province hooker was cited after his right hand allegedly made contact with face area of Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis.

The incident occurred during the 61st minute of the game.

Western Province defeated the Sharks 33-21 and will host the Free State Cheetahs in one semifinal in Cape Town on Saturday.

The date and time of the hearing will be confirmed on Monday.

Should Fourie be banned it will be a big blow to Province, who are already without injured first-choice hooker Tiaan Liebenberg.

Next in line is forgotten Springbok Hanyani Shimange, who has had very little game time this season and may well be short of match fitness, with someone like Maties’ Callie Visagie (who played for WP in the Vodacom Cup) the next man in line to fill a potentially vacant bench spot.

Meanwhile, Province will also be sweating over the fitness of star centre Jaque Fourie, who came off in the 69th minute – nursing a foot injury which has made him a doubtful starter for the play-offs.

The Springbok outside centre sustained a foot injury and coach Allister Coetzee reported after the match that Fourie had bad bruising around his big toe, but it was too early to establish the extent of the injury.

Fourie was expected to have X-rays on Sunday.

Word from the Province camp was that while they hoped it was merely a bruise, they feared it could be more serious – but diagnosis would wait until later.

From Rugby365