Bundee Aki will miss Ireland's first three Six Nations games after being handed a four game ban for "verbal abuse and disrespect" towards the match officials after Connacht's URC defeat to Leinster last Saturday.
The 35-year-old centre faced an independent disciplinary committee this afternoon, who found that Aki had "engaged with the match official team after the game on several occasions."
Aki was handed with a six game ban, however two of those games were suspended, meaning he will miss Connacht's URC clash with Zebre, followed by Ireland's opening three Six Nations games against France, Italy and England.
The centre will be available for the final two games of the campaign at home to Wales and Scotland.
Aki had earlier been dropped from the Ireland panel and did not travel with the rest of the squad on their Six Nations training camp to Portugal yesterday.
"The misconduct charges arose from the Round 10 BKT United Rugby Championship fixture on Saturday, January 24 at Dexcom Stadium, Galway," the URC statement read.
"After considering all of the submissions, the Independent Committee deemed that the Player engaged with the match official team after the game on several occasions in a manner which breached the Disciplinary Rules.
"The Independent Committee concluded that the Player's behaviour constituted verbal abuse and disrespect of a Match Official(s) under the relevant Rules. In determining its sanction, the Independent Committee felt that a suspension of six (6) weeks was appropriate, with two of those weeks suspended.
"The Committee also recognised the Player’s full regret for his actions and was grateful for the approach that he took towards the proceedings. However, given the player’s previous disciplinary record (including incidents of a similar nature) and his lack of a plea in this case, the Independent Committee could not apply mitigation to the sanction."
The news is a significant blow to Andy Farrell's injury-hit side, who have also lost full-back Hugo Keenan to a hand injury, ruling him out of the France opener.
The full details of what Aki is alleged to have said are unclear, but the centre could be heard remonstrating with referee Eoghan Cross on multiple occasions during his side's 34-23 defeat to Leinster at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday.
The two-time British and Irish Lion has previously been suspended for his conduct towards match officials. In 2017, Aki was given a three-game ban for comments made to referee Ian Davies after their Pro12 defeat to Leinster
He is also the third high profile Ireland international to have been cited in recent seasons for comments either to or about officials in the last three years.
Just over a year ago, his Connacht team-mate Mack Hansen was banned for three games after his comments about the standard of officiating following a defeat to Leinster, while former Ireland captain Johnny Sexton was also given a three-game suspension in 2023 for his conduct towards South African referee Jaco Peyper and his fellow officials in the aftermath of Leinster’s Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle.
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie
Follow every Ireland game in the Guinness Six Nations on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app, or listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch live coverage of England v Ireland (21 February) and Ireland v Wales (6 March) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
