France superstar Peato Mauvaka handed three match ban for headbutt

The 28-year-old was shown a yellow card for his action by referee Matthew Carley with the incident being reviewed by the Foul Play Review Officer Ian Tempest. Tempest deemed that Mauvaka's actions did not warrant a red card and did not upgrade the yellow card but the citing commissioner disagreed.

The France star appeared before an independent Disciplinary Committee on Thursday 20th March and has been found guilty for his act of foul play. He was cited for contravening Law 9.12 (a) which states: "A player must not strike with any part of the arm, shoulder, head or knee(s)."

The independent Disciplinary Committee was chaired by Jennifer Donovan (Ireland), joined by former international players John Langford (Australia) and Leon Lloyd (England). The Committee upheld the citing and by applying World Rugby's sanctioning provisions, have determined that the low-range entry point of six weeks/matches was appropriate.

"In light of the player accepting he committed an act of foul play as well as other mitigating factors, which included his remorse, good conduct during the process, and previous clean record, the Independent Disciplinary Committee have applied the full 50% reduction in its sanction, thus reducing the final sanction to three weeks/matches, from the entry point of six weeks," a Six Nations statement confirmed.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend slammed the decision during the post-match press conference as he could not fathom why Mauvaka's yellow card was not upgraded. Many onlookers during the match agreed with Townsend while Nigel Owens believed that the lack of conclusive angles from the broadcaster.

Mauvaka will now miss three crunch matches for his club team Toulouse missing the Top 14 encounters against Bordeaux Bègles and Pau. He will also miss their Investec Champions Cup round of 16 clash against the Sale Sharks.  

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