South African rugby player handed three-week suspension

DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AFP) — Springboks hooker Bismarck du Plessis was suspended for three weeks Sunday for "very serious" contact around the eye area of All Black Adam Thomson in the second Tri-Nations rugby test.

Du Plessis admitted at a judicial hearing his fist came into contact with Thomson's lower cheek with the knuckle near the eye.

The world champion Springboks took the match 30-28 on Saturday to post their first win in New Zealand for a decade and end the All Blacks' record 30-match run of victories on home ground.

But the victory has come at a cost with du Plessis, South Africa's second string hooker, in the starting line up after regular rake and captain John Smit was injured in the first Test won by the All Blacks 19-8 the previous week.

Their third-ranked hooker Schalk Brits ...