Tomas Francis is out of the Wales to squad to face Italy after being banned for eight weeks.
The Exeter prop has been found guilty of making contact with the eye or eye area of England’s Dan Cole during Saturday’s Six Nations match at Twickenham.
Francis was actually named among the replacements for this week’s final game against Italy, but his place in the squad lasted just two hours.
That was the time between the Wales team announcement and the judgement of the Six Nations disciplinary committee.
The committee found that Francis had “recklessly made contact with the eye or eye area of an opponent, which had been worthy of a red card”.
In a statement they said: “[We] heard submissions on sanction before concluding that the offending be characterised as being at the lower end of World Rugby’s scale of seriousness for this type of offending, which has an entry point of 12 weeks.
“The disciplinary committee was then required to consider aggravating and mitigating factors, which it did before concluding that the appropriate sanction be a playing suspension of eight weeks. Mr Francis is free to play again on Monday, 9 May 2016. He was reminded of his right of appeal.”
Francis was not punished for the offence during the game, which Wales lost 25-21.
England were awarded a penalty, though Francis was warned at the time by the referee that the incident was likely to be looked at after the match.
Ospreys prop Aaron Jarvis will now take Francis’s place on the bench against the Italians.
