The Committee, having viewed the video clips of the incident and listened to representations by the player and his representative, agreed with the Citing Commissioner's view that the alleged offence would have warranted a red card if seen by the referee.
In considering sanction the Committee took into account the fact that five punches had been thrown, with at least two connecting to the head of the opposition player, and therefore deemed the offence merited a mid-range entry point in World Rugby's list of sanctions, which carries a 5 week suspension. However, the Committee, having regard to the player's early admission of guilt, his apology and that there had been no further effect on the match, reduced the sanction by two weeks to arrive at a sanction of three weeks, up to and including Sunday 8 November 2015.
