Rugby-Tonga's Fifita hit with four-match ban for high tackle

The Tonga-born former All Black was shown a yellow card later upgraded to red for the tackle late in the game. The 31-year-old admitted foul play at a judicial hearing on Tuesday but questioned whether it met the red-card threshold. The independent panel decided the tackle was reckless, there was head contact and no mitigation and therefore banned him for six matches with a reduction of two games for his remorse and previous disciplinary record.

Tonga loose forward Vaea Fifita has almost certainly seen his last action at this year's World Cup after being banned for four matches for a dangerous tackle on Scotland's Finn Russell last weekend. The Tonga-born former All Black was shown a yellow card later upgraded to red for the tackle late in the game. The 31-year-old admitted foul play at a judicial hearing on Tuesday but questioned whether it met the red-card threshold.

The independent panel decided the tackle was reckless, there was head contact and no mitigation and therefore banned him for six matches with a reduction of two games for his remorse and previous disciplinary record. Fifita will therefore miss the game against world champions South Africa on Sunday and Tonga's last Pool B clash with Romania on Oct. 8 as well as two matches for his Welsh team Scarlets.

Tonga have lost both pool matches against Ireland and Scotland and are all but out of the running for a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.