Dudson banned for start of play-offs

South Wales Scorpions player Gil Dudson has been suspended for two matches and fined £50 by the RFL Disciplinary Committee after being found guilty of making dangerous contact.

Dudson was charged with a Grade B offence for use of the forearm to the head of an opponent after a late and high tackle on the kicker in the seventh minute of last week’s 18-16 Co-operative Championship One defeat by York.

Dudson sits out of Wednesday’s Carnegie Floodlit 9s, and will also miss the Scorpions’ play-off opener against Rochdale.

The RFL Disciplinary Committee earlier found Salford City Reds hooker Gareth Owen not guilty of a charge of making dangerous contact with the neck and back of Huddersfield’s Kevin Brown.

Owen, 18, had been charged with the Grade B offence by the RFL Match Review Panel.