All Black prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi's tackle on French winger Remy Grosso in the first Test between New Zealand and France was deemed "just short of" red card level by independent citing commissioner Freek Burger.
As a result, Tu'ungafasi has received a citing commissioner warning for a breach of Law 9.13.
In the opinion of Burger, there were mitigating factors which prevented the conduct from being a red card level red card level.
These included Grosso's low body position lowering as he went into contact with Sam Cane, who affected the tackle initially, immediately before Tu'ungafasi joined a dynamic tackle situation.
No further action was warranted against Cane with the commissioner deeming the on-field penalty against him to be sufficient punishment.
Grosso suffered two facial fractures in the 59 th minute tackle.
Tu’ungafasi also took to Twitter to wish Grosso well in his recovery.
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