Francis gets eight-week ban for eye gouging
An independent Six Nations disciplinary committee on Tuesday banned Francis for "recklessly making contact with the eye or eye area" of opposing England prop Dan Cole during last weekend's loss at Twickenham.
The 23-year-old, a second-half replacement in Wales's 21-25 defeat by England, was cited after making contact with Cole's face during a ruck.
South African referee Craig Joubert decided not to take further action as he had only one camera angle replay of the incident to view, but in penalising the Wales replacement he warned Francis that he may face further disciplinary action.
As well as ruling Francis out of Saturday's international in Cardiff, Wales's final match of the 2016 Six Nations, the ban means he is also set to miss the rest of English Premiership club side Exeter's regular season campaign.
A statement released on behalf of the Six Nations on Tuesday said: "The disciplinary committee, chaired by Pat Barriscale (Ireland) along with Jean-Philippe Lachaume (France) and George Spotswood (Ireland), having considered all of the evidence, including various clips of TV footage, and listened to representations by, and on behalf, of Mr Francis, found that he had recklessly made contact with the eye or eye area of an opponent, which had been worthy of a red card.
"The disciplinary committee heard submissions on sanction before concluding that the offending be characterised as being at the lower end of World Rugby's scale of seriousness for this type of offending, which has an entry point of 12 weeks.
"The disciplinary committee was then required to consider aggravating and mitigating factors, which it did before concluding that the appropriate sanction be a playing suspension of eight weeks.
"Mr Francis is free to play again on Monday, 9 May 2016. He was reminded of his right of appeal."
Earlier on Tuesday, Francis was named on the Wales replacement bench for the Italy but paired alongside Aaron Jarvis in case the disciplinary hearing went against him.
Now, following Francis's ban, the Ospreys front row is set to be included in Wales' matchday 23 to face Italy.
Wales coach Warren Gatland, speaking about the Francis incident on Tuesday before the disciplinary hearing announced its verdict, said: "You see it, and you see it in absolute slow motion don't you, and everything looks so different in slow motion.
"When you play it in real time, the contact with the hand with the eye is a third of a second. That's the contact time."
The New Zealander added: "Having looked at some of the other views and stuff, and looking at it in real time, those are questions you can ask about was it deliberate.
"Normally, if you are going to be grabbing someone's face or going for the eyes, it is a little bit more than a third of a second that is potentially going to do some damage.
"We will just wait and see what the outcome is."
Agence France-Presse
