A Six Nations disciplinary committee on Thursday banned French lock Pascal Pape for 10 weeks for a knee in the back foul which left Ireland’s Jamie Heaslip with three fractured vertebrae.

The foul deserved a longer ban, the committee said in a statement, but Pape saved himself with his “expressions of remorse.”

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The French player will miss the rest of the Six Nations tournament because of the challenge inflicted during Ireland’s 18-11 win over France in Dublin on Saturday.

Heaslip, 31, has already been told he will be sidelined for at least four weeks, but the Irish Rugby Football Union has said he should make a full recovery.

Pape was sin-binned with a yellow card by referee Wayne Barnes for the 52nd minute challenge.

The disciplinary committee said that after watching video images it “determined that Pascal Pape had committed an act of foul play which merited a red card rather than the on-field yellow card given by the match officials.”

The committee ruled that “the offence should be categorised at the top end of World Rugby’s scale of seriousness and set an entry point of a 15 week suspension.”

But it also “noted further the absence of aggravating factors and the existence of certain mitigating factors, including the player’s admission of foul play and his expressions of remorse for what had occurred and the injury sustained by his opponent.”

It said the sanction was reduced by one third to 10 weeks because of this.

    France play Wales on February 28 needing a win to keep alive their faint hopes of a Six Nations title.