France fly-half Romain Ntamack will miss Saturday’s fixture with England in round two of the Guinness Six Nations after receiving a three-week ban for his red card against Wales.
The 25-year-old was shown a yellow card by referee Paul Williams with 10 minutes remaining of France’s 43-0 victory over Wales for making contact with the head of opposite man Ben Thomas, although the bunker upgraded the decision to a red.
The offence was the Six Nations’ first-ever 20-minute red card, although it was too late in the match for the entire 20 minutes to elapse.
The Toulouse star went before a disciplinary panel on Wednesday charged with contravening law 9.13- “a player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously.”
England
France
Ntamack was initially handed a six-week ban, but that was halved due to his disciplinary record. The ban could be reduced by a further week should he complete the Coaching Intervention Programme.
With Toulouse facing ASM Clermont Auvergne next week in the Top 14, which will serve as part of the ban, Ntamack should only miss Le Crunch, but will crucially be available for the round four meeting with Ireland.
It was an incident that former Wales captain Sam Warburton described as a “revenge mission” following a tackle and scuffle with Thomas earlier in the match.
“Romain Ntamack got a red card. Now this, I think, is the absolute correct decision,” Warburton said on the BBC’s ‘Six Nations Rugby Special’.
“He is bolt upright, there’s force, it’s to the head- a senior coach will be completely annoyed by this.
“A complete lack of composure from Ntamack and this could be a massive blow for their Six Nations.
“The precursor to that was this shot from Ben Thomas. I think it is actually a great shot but it’s the bit of afters on the floor that Ben Thomas does, which you always do in international rugby.
“I think Romain Ntamack has taken it way too personally for what Ben Thomas did and then this looks like a revenge mission to me.
“But that lack of emotional control has really cost France for their Grand Slam chances for the Six Nations and they’ll be very disappointed.”
