Henry Slade will face a disciplinary panel this week after being red carded in Exeter Chiefs' 39-28 defeat to the Vodacom Bulls in the European Champions Cup in Pretoria last night.

Slade was ludicrously sent off by replacement French referee Thomas Charabas for a high tackle on Bulls full-back Kurt-Lee Arendse, when the television pictures clearly showed he made first contact with the player's shoulder.

Charabas deemed he had made contact with the head first, despite watching the pictures back with his television match official, and Slade was astonishingly sent off for the first time in his career.

However, the hope will be that the red card will be rescinded by disciplinary chiefs, otherwise Slade could miss the start of the Six Nations Championship for England – if selected by new head coach Steve Borthwick – due to suspension.

Charabas had a shocker after replacing Mathieu Raynal, who pulled his hamstring 10 minutes into the second half.

He also failed to take action over the use of a forearm by Bulls lock Ruan Vermaak which ended the game for replacement hooker Jack Yeandle after he suffered a blow to the head.

When Slade was dismissed, Exeter were trailing 32-14, scoring first-half tries through a stunner by full-back Jack Hodge and a catch-and-drive finished off by Tongan centre Solomone Kata, both converted by Joe Simmonds.

However, they hit back superbly to snatch a bonus point in the dying seconds of the game for scoring four tries when hooker Jack Innard crossed, to add to an earlier second-half try by former Bulls player Jannes Kirsten.

Meanwhile, Dave Ewers has become the latest Chiefs player to be linked with a move away from Sandy Park this summer, with reports suggesting he has signed for Ulster.

It follows on from Kirsten being linked with a return to the Bulls, and Joe Simmonds with French side Pau.

Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds have already announced they are joining Montpellier for next season, while Jack Nowell also seems set to depart the Devon club.