The Wallabies lock Rob Simmons has been punished with an eight-week ban for a lifting tackle during last weekend's test against France.
The IRB's judiciary panel hit Simmons with the surprisingly heavy ban for his tackle on the French flanker Yannick Nyanga during Australia's humiliating 33-6 loss.
In a double blow for the Australians their centre Pat McCabe has been ruled out of this weekend's match against England with a neck injury.
The Wallabies are expected to appeal Simmons' ban, which seems unusually harsh given Adam Thomson's light sentence for rucking the head of a Scottish forward - though it appears the IRB is going to review the All Black's punishment after chief executive Brett Gosper Tweeted they were going to do so.
The outspoken Samoa centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu slammed the Thomson verdict on Twitter, comparing it with the three-week ban he received from England's Rugby Football Union last year for tweets about English player Owen Farrell.
Fuimaono-Sapolu Tweeted: "I got 3 weeks for sarcastic tweets. So had I just rucked Farrell's head I would have got only a week? Its just so comical these days."
