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Six foot five, 120kg Samoan international handed lengthy ban for this red card tip tackle
By Online Editors
Samoan test regular Piula Fa'asalele has been handed a seven-week ban in France for dangerous play.
The 30-year-old Toulouse flanker appeared before the French judiciary this week after receiving a red card for a reckless tip tackle against Montpellier on September 23.
Fa'asalele was sent off just 16 minutes into the match lifting Gabriel Ngandebe above horizontal, causing his head to hit the ground.
The judicial panel initially considered an 11-week sanction but opted for seven weeks after considering remorse shown by Fa'asalele and his admission of fault.
Fa'asalele was born in Wellington and raised in South Auckland. His professional career began in 2008 when he joined French club Niort.
Fa'asalele has been with Toulouse since 2016 after stints with La Rochelle and Castres.
He will miss four Top 14 rounds and Toulouse's first two Champions Cup games before the ban is lifted in late November.
Toulouse are currently eighth in the French Top 14 standings.
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Latest Comments
SH rugby is dying. To win, the teams have had to rely on the incompetence of the refs.
You had a good run, but hopefully world rugby gets better standards for refs and your slide to irrelevance will be quick and justified.
Go to commentsI dont believe Skelton has ever proven himself at test level tho Nick. Yep he played well against a side they scored plenty against but his record v the top sides isnt special. Good quality player but Im not as convinced about him as you seem to be, as you base most of your opinion on his local club stuff not really his test performances. His test record of 30 tests in 10 years explains itself very well. I think he is an honest performer but certainly not a top notch International player.
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