The France hooker Peato Mauvaka has been cited for foul play after an off-the-ball incident with Scotland’s Ben White in their final Six Nations match.
Mauvaka received a yellow card for throwing himself head first into the grounded scrum-half during France’s title-clinching win in Paris on Saturday. The incident was referred for a bunker review at the time but the punishment was not increased beyond the 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
He will, however, now face an independent disciplinary hearing on Thursday after being accused for striking an opponent with “any part of the arm, shoulder, head or knee”.
The Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend, was baffled by the decision not to send off Mauvaka midway through the first half of his side’s 35-16 defeat. France led 10-0 at the time but Scotland cut the deficit to 16-13 before half-time.
Townsend said after the game: “It clearly was a non-tackle incident, it was after the whistle. So, if there was head contact and that was intentional, it shouldn’t be anything to do with the force that was involved.
“I feel sorry for Ben White here, because he did nothing. He was first of all pushed to the ground, and a push is nothing in rugby, and then he got collided in the head, so I don’t know how it wasn’t raised to a red card.”