England's Nathan Hughes handed six-week ban

England will miss the services of Wasps number eight Nathan Hughes for the first three games of their autumn international campaign after he was handed a six-week ban.

The 27-year-old was charged by the citing commissioner for striking Lewis Ludlow in the final minute of the Gallagher Premiership game against Gloucester Rugby that was won by the Cherry and Whites 21-35.

He initially appeared before an independent disciplinary panel on Wednesday last week but with no clear outcome the hearing was postponed for a week which did not go well with the Fiji born star as he tweeted "what a joke".

The reaction from Hughes saw the disciplinary committee add two more weeks to his original sanction of four-week ban which means he will miss the autumn international games for England against South Africa, New Zealand and Japan.

"Where the player had previously been given credit for a guilty plea, remorse and good conduct, the panel found that mitigation had been given on a false premise," said disciplinary panel chairman Gareth Graham in a statement released by the Rugby Football Union.

"On the basis of this new evidence, the panel did not consider that the player warranted any reduction by way of mitigation. There was, therefore, no reason to reduce the sanction from the mandatory entry point of six weeks."