Wales lock Bradley Davies has copped a seven week ban for his horror tackle on Donnacha Ryan on Sunday, a ban that will see him miss the entire Six Nations.
Davies was lucky to escape with only a yellow card after pummeling Ryan head first into the Aviva Stadium turf on Sunday, with the Munster man lucky to escape serious injury as a result. Boos and whistles echoed loudly across the Aviva as Davies escaped a red card and was back on the pitch by the time Leigh Halfpenny nailed a last-minute penalty to win it for Wales.
If he thought he was off the hook, he was sadly mistaken, as after being cited by an independent Italian commissioner, Davies appeared before the Six Nations Disciplinary Committee in London this afternoon and was slapped with a seven-week ban for his heinous crime.
While some will argue that the IRB didn’t go far enough, the punishment seems appropriate; the only worry from an Irish perspective is that the IRB will take a similar hard-line approach when dealing with Stephen Ferris, who was guilty of a far less severe tackle on Ian Evans in the same game but was given the same punishment (a yellow card) as Davies.
Ferris was also cited for the tackle and his fate is expected to become known at around 3pm this afternoon.
To remind yourself of just how far apart the tackles were in terms of severity and force, have a look at the video below.
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