Iakopo Mapu; Northampton prop given three-week dangerous tackle ban

Northampton Saints prop Iakopo Mapu has been given a three-week ban following his sending off against Ealing Trailfinders in the Premiership Rugby Cup.

The Samoa international, who joined Saints in November, was shown the red card by referee Sara Cox for a dangerous 41st-minute tackle on Ealing hooker Mike Willemse.

Mapu will definitely miss the Premiership games against Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks on 21 and 28 March.

But the suspension will be reduced to two weeks if he completes the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme (CIP) course, allowing him to be available for the Championship Cup clash with French side Clermont on 4 April.

He could have received a six-week ban but a disciplinary panel decided it had been a “mid-range” offence.

Saints lost 43-26 to Championship side Ealing, costing them a place in the PRC semi-finals.

They must now focus on Europe and trying to improve their position of eighth in the Premiership, having won a first title for a decade last season.

Speaking following the Ealing defeat, director of rugby Phil Dowson said his side had been dominated from start to finish and would now face intensive training ahead of the East Midlands derby against Leicester.

“There was a lack of everything – lack of intensity, lack of urgency, a lack of skill levels, a lack of decision making, a lack of leadership. It was just flat,” he told BBC Radio Northampton.

“We’re going to train very hard. We’re going to work on our game and we’re going to work on how we apply ourselves, before, during and after games and make sure the opportunity we missed isn’t repeated in the run-in of the season.”