France star Romain Ntamack will be absent from Saturday’s Six Nations match against England after he was hit with a three-week ban for his red card offence during the game against Wales.
The 25-year-old was initially shown a yellow card by referee Paul Williams with just 10 minutes left of France’s 43-0 victory over Wales, after making contact with the head of opposite number Ben Thomas.
However, the decision was later upgraded to a red card, which marked the first-ever 20-minute red card in Six Nations history, although it occurred too late in the match for the full 20 minutes to pass.
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The Toulouse fly-half faced a disciplinary panel on Wednesday, charged with contravening law 9.13 - "a player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously."
Initially, Ntamack received a six-week ban, but saw the punishment halved due to his clean disciplinary record. The ban could be further reduced by a week if he completes the Coaching Intervention Programme.
With Toulouse set to play ASM Clermont Auvergne next week in the Top 14, which will count towards the ban, Ntamack should only miss the clash with England, but crucially, he will be available for the third-round match against Italy if he completes the CIP.
Former Wales captain Sam Warburton described the incident as a "revenge mission" following a tackle and scuffle with Thomas earlier in the match.
"Romain Ntamack got a red card. Now this, I think, is the absolute correct decision," Warburton said. "He is bolt upright, there’s force, it’s to the head- a senior coach will be completely annoyed by this.
"A complete lack of composure from Ntamack and this could be a massive blow for their Six Nations.
"The precursor to that was this shot from Ben Thomas. I think it is actually a great shot but it’s the bit of afters on the floor that Ben Thomas does, which you always do in international rugby."
"I think Romain Ntamack has taken it way too personally for what Ben Thomas did and then this looks like a revenge mission to me. But that lack of emotional control has really cost France for their Grand Slam chances for the Six Nations and they’ll be very disappointed."
French paper L'Equipe gave Ntamack a five out of 10 rating, clearly downgraded due to his actions in the 70th minute.
Planet Rugby were even harsher, giving the player only three out of ten despite his part in a huge win. They said: “Played a supporting role, and rather well, to the magician that he partnered in the half-backs. It’s been a long road back to international rugby for the cool-headed fly-half but he did not look off the pace until his lazy tackle attempt and was rightly red-carded. It was needless and could cost Les Bleus next week.”
The Telegraph lamented Ntamack for his “moment of madness” and predicted that he is now “likely to miss a chunk of the Six Nations”. Opinion on social media was unanimous in agreeing with the decision to issue a red card to Ntamack.
The Irish Independent’s chief rugby writer Rúaidhrí O’Connor said: “That’s Ntamack out of Twickenham and possibly Dublin too. Should be a proper ban for that.” Meanwhile, sportswriter Pat McCarry posted on X: “That’s plain deplorable from Ntamack. Save him a seat in Tackle School.”
