MARTYN WILLIAMS, the Pontypridd and Wales flank forward, has been suspended for six weeks by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) after being found guilty of stamping Ireland second row Malcolm O'Kelly during the A international at Donnybrook last Friday week.
The ban runs from March 17th to April 28th.
The suspension was imposed on Williams by the WRU disciplinary committee on Tuesday night after studying a video of the incident. The video had been sent to the WRU by the IRFU. The IRFU did knot cite Williams, but asked that the WRU look at the video and take the action they deemed appropriate.
Six weeks is the recommended suspension for a player found guilty of stamping if it is a first offence. This means that Williams will now be ruled out of the game for all but the last few weeks of the season. He will miss vital league and cup games for his club, who this season played in the European Cup and lost to Leinster in the quarter final at Lansdowne Road. Williams had been dropped off the Wales A team to meet France tomorrow prior to the imposition of the suspension.
Commenting on the suspension, Edward Jones, secretary of the WRU, said yesterday: "This is a clear indication of the intention of the WRU to have a clean game at all levels. The WRU will not tolerate or condone violent or dangerous play."
