BEDFORD BLUES’ Paul Tupai has been suspended for five weeks after pleading guilty to striking Rotherham Titans’ Adam Kettle during the RFU Championship match at Clifton Lane on September 5.

Tupai was cited by the Titans and he appeared before an RFU Disciplinary Panel of Jeremy Summers (chairman) and Julian Morris at the London Bloomsbury Holiday Inn. The lock served a one-week ban imposed by Bedford (September 9 to 16) and the remainder of his suspension will run from today until November 1.  He can play again on November 2.