France hooker banned for Ben White headbutt but retrospective punishment of little use to Scotland

The France hooker who aimed a headbutt at Scotland scrum-half Ben White has been banned for three matches.

Peato Mauvaka was shown only a yellow card for the incident in the first half of the Six Nations match in Paris on Saturday night. But he was later cited for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.12 which states that “a player must not…. strike with any part of the arm, shoulder, head or knee(s)”.

Mauvaka, who plays for Toulouse and has a clean record, accepted his guilt and showed remorse, all of which was taken into consideration at the hearing. It meant that an entry point ban of six weeks/matches was reduced by 50 per cent.

France's Peato Mauvaka is sent to the sin bin during the Guinness Men's Six Nations match against Scotland at Stade de France. | PA

He is therefore suspended for this Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash at Bordeaux Bègles as well as the Top 14 game versus Pau on March 29 and the Champions Cup match against Sale Sharks on April 6.

The retrospective punishment is of little use to Gregor Townsend and Scotland, who lost the match 35-16 at the Stade de France. Had Mauvaka been shown an outright red card at the time, France would have been down to 14 men for 60 minutes in what was the Six Nations decider. As it was, they were deprived of Mauvaka’s services for only the 10 minutes he was in the sin-bin.

The decision to show Mauvaka yellow rather than red was taken by match referee Matthew Carley after consulting with the television match official, Marius van der Westhuizen. Foul play review officer Ian Tempest upheld the decision, much to the annoyance of Scotland coach Townsend and captain Rory Darge who both felt it warranted a red card.

White had been pushed to the ground and was lying prone when Mauvaka appeared to launch himself headfirst at the Scotland scrum-half after play had stopped.