Cian Healy has been cleared of biting Brett Sheehan after a hearing in Brisbane this morning but the Irish prop is out of the British & Irish Lions tour after scans on his injured ankle revealed substantial damages to his ligaments.
On a juridical point of view, Healy would have been free to play the rest of the tour but further scans on the ankle injury he sustained towards the end of the first half in Wednesday’s game revealed the injury was worst than initially thought.
Warren Gatland had already called England’s Alex Corbisiero as cover to prevent a potential withdrawal of the Irish prop.
The British & Irish Lions prop was cited following the Lions’ 69-17 victory in Perth on Wednesday night but no further actions will be taken after judicial officer Nigel Hampton found insufficient evidence to support the allegation from the Western Force scrum-half.
“There is no conclusive video evidence of the incident and post-match it was not possible to distinguish any discernible bite marks outside of the ‘regular’ marks usually found following a rugby match,” he said.
“I cannot find proven on the balance of probabilities that there was a deliberate bite here, and the citing complaint is not upheld.”
