Bundee Aki has been hit with a three week ban and is out of the remainder of the Rugby World Cup .
The Connacht centre will miss Ireland's quarter-final against New Zealand in Tokyo on Saturday.
The suspension follows a hearing in Tokyo after the 29-year-old was sent off in Ireland's final pool game against Samoa last Saturday.
Aki, who had legal representation, went before a three-man independent judicial committee and the IRFU argued that their backline star had only 0.2 seconds to react before he tackled Ulepana Seiuta.
But the committee, which was chaired by senior counsel Adam Casselden (Australia) and also included former international coach Frank Hadden (Scotland) and former referee Valeriu Toma (Romania), decided that referee Nic Berry's decision should be upheld.
The committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point, which was introduced two years ago to protect player welfare, deter high contact and prevent head injuries.
This resulted in a starting point of a six-week suspension, but was halved due to Aki's previous good disciplinary record.
Aki has 48 hours to appeal the decision from receipt of the full written verdict.
Keep up-to date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.
Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.
Click here to get it from the App Store or here for Google Play .
