France's Antoine Dupont is tackled by Johan Deysel of Namibia. Photo: AFP
World Rugby has handed down a couple of hefty bans following dangerous play at the World Cup last weekend.
Namibia captain Johan Deysel has been given an effective five match suspension for his dangerous tackle on Antoine Dupont that left the France skipper with a facial fracture,
Former All Black forward Vaea Fifita has been ruled out of the rest of Tonga's campaign after copping a four match ban for dangerously charging into a ruck during the Pacific Islander's loss to Scotland.
Fifita's shoulder collided with Scottish first-five Finn Russell's head in the clumsy cleanout late in the game.
Fifita accepted that he had committed an act of foul play but challenged the Foul Play Review Official's decision that the act warranted a red card.
However the independent disciplinary committee determined that head contact had occured, that the degree of danger was high and that the tackle was always illegal and therefore mitigation was not available.
Meanwhile Deysel received a red card for the incident in France's 96-0 win in Marseille, and later apologised having received online abuse.
An Independent Judicial Committee decided the tackle met the top end on the scale of seriousness, which is a 12-game suspension, but also applied the maximum 50% reduction in sentence following his apology and previous good record.
Deysel has indicated he will attend World Rugby's 'tackle school', a coaching intervention programme, to have a further game taken off his suspension.
The first match of his ban is Namibia's final World Cup Pool A meeting with Uruguay on Thursday.
-RNZ/Reuters
