Uruguay hooker Facundo Gattas has been suspended for three games, effectively ending his Rugby World Cup, after he received a red card in his side’s loss to Georgia on Sunday.
Gattas was shown a red card by referee Wayne Barnes for a no-arms high tackle with about three minutes remaining in the 33-7 loss in Kumagaya.
He attended a disciplinary hearing in Tokyo on Tuesday, where he sought to get the red card overturned.
“Having considered all the angles of the incident, together with evidence from the player and his representatives, the panel upheld the decision of the referee,” World Rugby said in a statement.
The panel deemed Gattas’s offence was worthy of the mandatory mid-point sanction of six weeks but reduced it to three because of his previous clean disciplinary record.
Uruguay have just two further games left in Pool D, against Australia in Oita on Saturday and then Wales in Kumamoto on October 13.
While they beat Fiji in their opening game, the South Americans are not expected to advance out of their pool and Gattas will also miss his first game for his club upon his return home.
He was the second player to receive a red card in the tournament after United States flanker John Quill was sent off for a shoulder charge into the head of England’s Owen Farrell.
Quill also received a three-week suspension.
Samoa’s Ed Fidow received a red card on Monday after he committed two professional fouls that resulted in penalty tries for Scotland in their 34-0 victory in Kobe.