Chiefs midfielder Johnny Fa'auli has been banned for six weeks and will miss the rest of the Super Rugby season for a dangerous tackle on Hurricane centre Wes Goosen.
The 22-year-old was sent off during the Chiefs’ 28-24 win for a high, no-arms tackle on Goosen on Friday night in Hamilton.
Goosen was forced from the field by the tackle in the 62nd minute and failed a two Head Injury Assessments (HIA), leaving him in doubt for Friday's quarter-final re-match in Wellington.
Sanzaar's foul play review committee charged him for the red- card offence and has suspended him from all forms of the game, up to and including August 31.
The committee of Nigel Hampton, Stefan Terblanche and John Langford accepted a guilty plea from Fa'auli for contravening Law 9.13: A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously.
"The committee added two weeks to the entry point as aggravation for the fact [Fa'auli] has two previous offences of a similar nature on his judicial record and as a personal deterrent to combat a pattern of such offending by the player," Sanzaar said in its report.
"However, taking into account mitigating factors, including the player's expressed remorse and his plea of guilty at the earliest possible opportunity, the committee reduced the suspension to six weeks."
The Hurricanes official Twitter account tweeted immediately after the brutal hit on Friday night saying: "What a shocker... player with a bad history of that crap."
Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee also voiced his anger on social media, saying Fa'auli's red was "overdue for that guy", adding he was a "loose cannon".
Both tweets were deleted immediately and the Canes then released a statement apologising for the social media post on their Twitter account.
"The Hurricanes regret a social media post that was made on the club's official Twitter account during Friday night's match against the Chiefs at FMG Waikato Stadium following an incident that saw a red card issued to Johnny Fa'auli for a dangerous tackle," the statement said.
"The post was deleted because it was inappropriate."
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