A disciplinary committee yesterday suspended South Africa flanker Andre Venter for three weeks for stomping on the face of New Zealand captain Sean Fitzpatrick in Saturday's bitterly contested international. Springboks coach Carel du Plessis defended Venter and his other players who were involved in a series of ugly incidents during the All Blacks' 55-35 win at Eden Park.

Du Plessis said he was happy with team discipline and that All Blacks-Springboks clashes never lacked fire. But All Black coach John Hart, disappointed by Du Plessis' reaction, retorted: "I'd hate to play a Springboks side that is not disciplined then." New Zealand scored a record number of points against South Africa after Venter was sent off and virtually secured the Tri-Nations championship. But the match also left Fitzpatrick and All Black flanker Josh Kronfeld with severe bruising.

All Black lock Mark Andrews was lucky to escape Fitzpatrick's fate on two occasions, while veteran Springbok winger James Small was yellow carded for attempting to trip Christian Cullen as he scored his second try.

Fitzpatrick, captaining the All Blacks for the 50th time, played down the incident but Hart was more forthright.

"I don't think kicking has got any place in the game, it never has and never will. There were other incidents there that don't really deserve to be in the game," he said.