Cardiff Blues lock Jarrad Hoeata was red carded for a dangerous high tackle on Leinster's Rob Kearney last weekend in the Guinness Pro 12. New Zealander Hoeata has since been suspended for 6 weeks, meaning he'll miss a few European rugby clashes.
The 31-year-old joined the Blues from the Highlanders, having also represented the New Zealand Maori, and been capped by the All Blacks three times.
He's always in the thick of things, enjoying the 'enforcer' tag more often than not. On this occasion he seemed a bit careless, taking out Kearney in a fairly similar way to Wycliff Palu back in 2009.
Hoeata appeared before an independent Pro12 Rugby disciplinary committee. The panel viewed footage of the incident and listened to representations made by and on behalf of the player himself.
They found that the incident was at the mid-range of the World Rugby sanctions for this type of offence, carrying a 6 week sanction. They applied an additional two weeks as a deterrence, then reduced two weeks due to several mitigating factors, including Hoeata's acceptance of the card and his conduct at the hearing.
After learning of the suspension, Hoeata tweeted:
"I would love to share my thoughts on that ban but I have kids that follow me..."