France lock Paul Willemse, who was given a red card against Ireland, has been suspended for four weeks, a disciplinary committee for the Six Nations has decided.
The suspension will mean that Willemse will miss the games against Scotland and Italy.
Willemse was issued a yellow card in the eighth minute for a high tackle on Andrew Porter which saw the Irish player leave the field of play with a head injury.
Not long after returning, the 31-year-old was shown a second yellow card for another high tackle, this time on Caelan Doris.
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Given it was his second such incident in a short space of time, the second tackle was upgraded to a straight red card by the bunker upon review.
The Montpellier player appeared before an independent Disciplinary Committee via video link on Tuesday where he was formally sanctioned.
“Having considered the incidents separately, including the relevant supporting statements and footage, the Committee deemed that the red card threshold was reached in respect of the citing, meaning that too was upheld,” the committee said.
“The Committee, however, accepted that whilst both actions were reckless, there was no evidence to suggest the player acted maliciously or with intent in either case. The Committee also highlighted the player had presented himself admirably in the process and shown remorse for his actions.
“Following World Rugby’s mandatory guidelines, the sending off incident warranted a mid-range entry point of six weeks suspension. Mitigating factors were applied by the Committee reducing the six-week entry point by two weeks, resulting in a sanction of four weeks for this offence.”
