USA flanker John Quill has been suspended from rugby for three weeks after a late, head-high, no-wrap hit on Owen Farrell in Thursday's Rugby World Cup match against England.

Farrell had dropped a pass and picked it up on the bounce, and was staggering forward several steps when Quill came in and shoulder-charged him in the face.

The RWC disciplinary committee, chaired by Nigel Hampton QC (New Zealand) with former international coach Frank Hadden (Scotland) and former international match official Valeriu Toma (Romania), heard the case, considering all the available evidence, including multiple broadcast angles and submissions from the player and his representative.

The player admitted that he had committed an act of foul play worthy of a red card. In determining the sanction, the committee deemed that:

• There was an act of foul play (which was reckless, rather than deliberate)
• The act of foul play was a shoulder charge
• There was contact with the head
• There was a high degree of danger; and
• There were not sufficient mitigating factors to reduce the sanction from a red card to a yellow card

The minimum penalty for this is a six-week suspension. However, as has happened in other recent adjudications, Quill's sanction was reduced based on his "good character and conduct at the hearing."

Quill will miss USA’s three remaining pool matches (against France, Argentina, and Tonga) at Rugby World Cup 2019, so basically his World Cup is over.

He has the right to appeal but it's unlikely anything will change.

More Hearings

Also on Friday, Samoa's Motu Matu'u was also sanctioned for a dangerous tackle, and he also received six weeks reduced to three weeks because of his contrition. The same happened with Samoa's Ray Lee-Lo.

The committees involved have been pretty consistent in their judgments regarding dangerous tackles, although while most players have had their sanction reduced for good behavior and a good disciplinary record, for Quill, who has been red-carded before, there was no mention of his good disciplinary record.

One can think that maybe Quill is fortunate the sanction wasn't longer.

Meanwhile, England center Piers Francis will stand before a disciplinary committee in the next day or so to answer for a dangerous tackle he committed against the USA on Thursday.