England's Tom Curry has been handed a two-game ban by World Rugby after his red card during Saturday's win over Argentina.
The back-rower was dismissed less than three minutes in to England's Rugby World Cup opener in Pool C at the weekend, initially being shown a yellow card following a clash of heads with Argentina full-back Juan Cruz Mallia.
The incident was sent to the 'bunker' for further review while Curry was off the field, before being upgraded to a red card.
World Rugby have now confirmed that the 25-year-old will be banned for three games, reduced to two if he completes a coaching programme on tackling.
Curry's acceptance during the disciplinary proceedings that he had committed a red-card offence meant that an initial six-week ban was reduced first to three weeks, and then to two.
The decision means that the flanker will miss England's group games against Japan on Sunday and Chile on September 23.
"The player accepted the red card and was suspended for two matches (subject to completion of the Coaching Intervention Programme). The independent Disciplinary Committee was chaired by Adam Casselden SC (Australia), joined by former players John Langford (Australia) and Jamie Corsi (Wales)," read a statement from World Rugby.
"The player accepted that foul play occurred and that the offence warranted a red card.
"The Committee noted that the offence carries a mandatory minimum mid-range sanction (six matches), and having considered the mitigating factors, including admission of foul play and correctness of the red card at the first opportunity, an exemplary disciplinary record, apology to the player and good character, reduced the sanction by the maximum mitigation of 50%."
Curry will be available to return for England against Samoa in their final pool match on October 7.
The decision to upgrade the Sale flanker's card from yellow to red was seen as controversial due to the accidental nature of the collision, and particularly so when similar incidents for Chilean and South African players were only punished by yellow cards in their matches the following day.
England overcame their numerical deficit for almost the entire match, though, with George Ford kicking all of their points in a memorable 27-10 win over their main Pool C rivals.
Steve Borthwick was without both Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola through suspension for that match following red cards in their warm-up games, but Vunipola has now served his ban, while Farrell will be available again for the match against Chile. body check tags ::
