Uruguay’s Guillermo Pujadas has been banned for six weeks after spitting on Wales player Tomos Williams, World Rugby has confirmed.
The replacement hooker was cited in the aftermath of Wales’ 35-13 victory in Kumamoto two weeks ago, with the Wales management team referring the incident to the citing commissioner after it was missed by the officials on the field.
Pujadas admitted the offence and accepted it warranted a red card, though was found to display a concerning "inability during the hearing to recall any specifics of the incident".
This led to the judicial panel questioning his forthrightness in the matter.
In 2016, the hooker was banned for five weeks after being red carded for dissent towards an official.
As they dished out a six-week ban for the spitting incident against the Wales scrum-half, the panel concluded that, in light of the two incidents, "the player has a significant issue with the core rugby value of respect".
Despite video evidence, Pujadas insisted he did not run over to spit at Williams and claims he didn't remember committing the offence.
“Actually I was surprised when I was called by the head coach because of the citing because I don’t remember that I had actually spat on the player,” he said.
But after deeper investigation of the events and gathering of evidence, the matter was put to the judicial panel made up of Alan Hudson, Leon Lloyd and Stefan Terblanche.
They found that, following Gareth Davies’ try at the end of the match, Pujadas ran towards scrum-half Williams, who was engaged in a scuffle with Uruguay captain Juan Manuel Gaminara, and spat on the back of his neck.
Fly-half Rhys Patchell saw it and made referee Angus Gardner aware of the incident, though no punishment was dished out on the field as the game ended immediately after Leigh Halfpenny’s conversion.
Giving evidence, Williams confirmed that he felt someone spit on the back of his neck.
Patchell added: "As Gareth Davies ran in his try I saw Tomos Williams and Uruguay 6 having a bit of a scuffle. Nothing to it particularly.
"Then #16 blue got involved as there was pushing and shoving from both sides.
"As everybody parted, I saw 16 blue spit at Tomos Williams. I can’t tell whether it connected but I felt intent was clear.
"I went straight to the ref to report this, but as it was the end of the game I’m not [sure] he clocked what it was I was saying. He seemed very intent on calming everyone down - understandable given the situation."
Pujadas is free to play again on December 15.
