Excluded during France-Ireland, Paul Willemse suspended for four weeks

The Six Nations tournament’s disciplinary committee ruled this Tuesday: French XV Paul Willemse’s second row, excluded against Ireland on Friday, has been suspended for four weeks. Willems (31 years, 32 caps) picked up a yellow card (9th) then a red card (32nd) for each dangerous tackle during the opening day’s rout of the Blues (37-18).

“The Commission recognized that while both actions were reckless, there was no evidence to suggest that the player had acted maliciously or intentionally in either case. The Committee also noted that the player had behaved admirably during the proceedings and was remorseful for his actions.Six nations justified.

A headache ahead for Galthié

The Montpellier player will be re-qualified from March 2. It can reduce this sanction to one week if it follows World Rugby’s monitoring programme. The second row will already miss the Blues’ next match against Scotland, on Saturday (3:15 pm), followed by MHR, Racing 92 (February 17) in the Top 14. He will be absent again the following weekend, whether with the French team against Italy (February 25) or with Montpellier against Bayonne (February 24).

The suspension poses a real headache for coach Fabian Galthy, who already faces the cage without Toulouse’s Thibaud Flament (foot) and Emmanuel Mefau (knee) or Lyon’s Romain Taophifenua (foot).