New Zealand lock Brodie Retallick handed two-week suspension

New Zealand lock Brodie Retallick has been handed a two-week suspension following his red card incident in the recently concluded game against Japan.

Retallick was red carded in the 65th minute of the game for a dangerous tackle on Japan blindside flanker Kazuki Himeno.

He faced an independent disciplinary hearing chaired by Wang Shao-Ing from Singapore along with Donal Courtney (Ireland) and Leon Lloyd (England) and was proved guilty of breaching World Rugby Law 9.20(a) that deals with charging into a ruck or maul.

The 31-year-old was handed a six-week suspension that was reduced by half taking into account his conduct during hearing, clean disciplinary record and other mitigations factors.

He is now certain to miss New Zealand's games against Wales and Scotland but could be available for the Twickenham encounter against England provided he successfully completes the coaching intervention programme.

All Blacks head coach Ian Foster, who was also part of the hearing said he had no complaints over the ruling by the disciplinary committee.

“It was a fair hearing. I sat through it with him at 6.30am this morning. He’s got a great record; he’s played 99 tests and never been red carded before. It was a tough experience for him but it is what it is,” said Foster.

“Our verdict is it was a pretty legitimate cleanout but he went too low and he hit the back of the neck so you have to accept that in the game. It was certainly good to hear they saw there was no intent to hurt, it was just technique he didn’t quite get right.

“As a coach you never see two weeks as good news but the nice thing for him is he’s available. He’s already telling me he’s going to pick himself for the English test so we’ll wait and see.”