South Africa's Pieter-Steph du Toit and France scrum-half Antoine Dupont have both been ruled out of the rest of the autumn after being slapped with bans.
Both players received red cards during France's 30-26 win over South Africa in Marseille on Saturday night.
South Africa back-row du Toit has received a three-game ban for his clearout on Jonathan Danty. However, he will only miss two matches, namely the Springboks' clashes with Italy and England, if he completes World Rugby's coaching intervention programme.
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Meanwhile, Dupont will miss four games after taking Cheslin Kolbe out in the air, ruling the No. 9 out of France's autumn finale against Japan as well as Toulouse's clashes with Lyon, Perpignan and Munster.
Both players were hit with suspensions for mid-range offences, with du Toit's ban starting at six weeks and Dupont beginning at eight before mitigation saw their suspensions halved. While Dupont admitted guilt, du Toit denied that his actions warranted a red card.
An Autumn Nations Series statement on du Toit's ban said: “The player denied that he had committed an act of foul play worthy of a red card. However, having reviewed all available evidence and the submissions made by the player and his representative prior to and during the hearing, the judicial committee determined that the player had committed an act of foul play worthy of a red card, having regard to the process set out within World Rugby’s head contact process. The disciplinary committee found the player’s offending to be “reckless” (and not intentional or deliberate), and although there were some external factors identified with respect to the incident, they were not, on the evidence before the judicial committee, of a sufficient degree to justify a reclassification of the offending to below red card.”
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