Springbok, Sharks wing Makazole Mapimpi hit with five-match ban

The veteran winger was given his marching orders in the 55th minute of the 34-26 defeat to Ulster in Durban on Saturday, the Sharks' fourth successive loss to start the new season.

To rub salt in the wounds, the double Rugby World Cup winner will now miss the Durbanites' second home game of the season against the Scarlets this weekend and four of the Springboks' five end-of-year tour internationals.

The URC confirmed the wingers' suspension on Wednesday following the conclusion of the disciplinary process.

"After an act of foul play by Hollywoodbets Sharks player No 11 (Makazole Mapimpi), referee Ben Whitehouse showed the Player a Red Card in the 55th minute of the game under Law 9.18 - A player must not lift an opponent off the ground and drop or drive that player so that their head and/or upper body make contact with the ground," the statement read.

"In the Player's responses to the Judicial Officer overseeing the disciplinary process (Sheriff Kathrine Mackie), he had accepted that he had committed an act of foul play which warranted a Red Card.

"Sheriff Mackie found that the incident met the Red Card threshold, with entry point of low-end warranting six weeks. The Player received two Red Cards in 2023 and 2025, and cannot be said to have a clean disciplinary record. The Player received one week mitigation after acknowledging and accepting act of foul play was committed which results in a five-game suspension."

The shining light for the Sharks is that Mapimpi will miss just one fixture for the club, with the Springboks' fixtures contributing to his ban, puzzling so.

Mapimpi was not named in Rassie Erasmus' squad for the November internationals against Japan, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales, but was included on the standby list and would be called in the event of an injury.

Despite this fact, these fixtures have been included in his suspension, a farcical decision from the panel. Mapimpi has clearly fallen down the pecking order with the Springboks with the emergence of Ethan Hooker and Edwill van der Merwe, and was unlikely to feature at all in November if there weren't any injuries.

This again exposes the flaws in World Rugby's disciplinary processes that the likes of the URC and other club competitions adopt.

During the November internationals, the URC will be paused until the last week of the month, when Mapimpi - under his current ban - will be available for selection to the Sharks, who will face off against Connacht on the same day that the Boks face off against Wales.

Earlier this year, a similarly absurd ban was issued to Ireland centre Garry Ringrose following his red card against Wales for a head-on-head collision with Ben Thomas.

He was handed a six-week ban, reduced by three, then to two after completing World Rugby's Coaching Intervention Programme. In this case, Ringrose was able to use a Leinster fixture as part of his ban despite a match that he was very unlikely to play.

This came after France's Romain Ntamack was not afforded the same luxury - further illustrating the inconsistencies.

In Ringrose's and Mapimpi's bans, common sense was clearly absent. It's just another example of teams exploiting the loopholes in the processes, which has become somewhat of a common theme with Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton providing more blatant examples of matches that they were never going to play, counting towards suspension, or lenient bans to ensure the player doesn't miss important matches.

Johnny Sexton receives three-match suspension, set to play at the World Cup

Fixtures Makazole Mapimpi is unavailable for:
Makazole Mapimpi's ban (via URC)
Makazole Mapimpi's ban (via URC)

Hollywoodbets Sharks v Scarlets, 25 October 2025 BKT URC
South Africa v Japan, 1 November 2025, Castle Lager Outgoing Tour
France v South Africa, 8 November 2025, Quilter Nations Series
Italy v South Africa, 15 November 2025, Quilter Nations Series
Ireland v South Africa, 22 November 2025, Quilter Nations Series