Wales and Cardiff Blues halfback Lloyd Williams has been suspended for five weeks after being sent off for a lifting tackle on Montpellier’s Benoit Paillaugue during a European Cup clash last weekend.

Williams will be sidelined until January 14 after learning his punishment for the offence when he appeared at a disciplinary hearing in Dublin on Thursday.

The 23-year-old, capped eight times by Wales, was dismissed after 25 minutes of Sunday’s fixture, which Montpellier won 35-24, following a tackle on opposite number Paillaugue at the Arms Park.

Williams will now miss the Blues’ return clash at Montpellier on Saturday and their next pool match away to Toulon in January.

Judicial officer Jeremy Summers ruled that the offence warranted a mid-range entry point of an eight-week ban.

He added one week as a deterrent, but then took a maximum of four weeks off due to mitigating factors: a guilty plea, the player’s disciplinary record and what European Rugby Cup described as his “clear remorse”.