Wales lock Bradley Davies has been given a seven week ban for his tip tackle on Ireland's Donnacha Ryan in last week's Six nations opener.

At a disciplinary hearing Davies was suspended for 7 weeks having been cited by the independent Six Nations citing commissioner Achille Reali (Italy), for an incident of foul play in the Six Nations match between Ireland and Wales in Dublin on Sunday.

The independent Six Nations Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Antony Davies (England) along with John Doubleday (England) and Jean-Noel Couraud (France), having considered the citing report and the television footage and having listened to the player's explanation, found that the incident, in which the player lifted his opponent beyond a horizontal position but did not bring him to the ground safely contrary to Law 10.4(j) and the IRB's particular emphasis on this aspect of the game, merited a top end entry to the IRB's table of sanctions.

The Committee applied an additional two weeks to the entry point of 10 weeks to reflect the need for a deterrent for this type of foul play but, in mitigation, took account of various factors in the player's favour including his admission of guilt, his previous good disciplinary record and his conduct at the hearing in allowing the maximum possible reduction of five weeks.

Bradley Davies can resume playing on 26 March 2012, and has the right of appeal.