South African flanker Schalk Burger's four-match suspension for a high tackle in a World Cup match against Samoa was reduced on appeal to two matches at a hearing in Paris this morning.

It means Burger will be available for the Springboks' final Pool A match against the United States but will miss Friday's clash with England and the following match against Tonga.

The three-man appeals committee determined that judicial officer Terry Willis had made an error in his initial decision about the incident.

"He was wrong to find that the player was not at any time during the incident intending to win the ball," read a statement.

The committee said Burger was attempting to win the ball "for a significant part of the time involved" but then made to tackle Samoa scrumhalf Junior Polu when he realised he was not going to catch the ball. They also noted that Burger withdrew his arm when he made contact with Polu.

The committee decided the tackle should be categorised as a lower level offence for which the minimum suspension is two matches.