Super Rugby AU red cards sideline Alaalatoa, Ready for three weeks

(Reuters) - ACT Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa and Western Force hooker Andrew Ready were both handed three-match bans on Monday after being shown red cards in Super Rugby AU action at the weekend.

The two red cards took the tally to four in the first six matches of the domestic competition, in which a local law variation allows dismissed players to be replaced after 20 minutes.

Both players had three weeks trimmed from their bans after submitting guilty pleas, governing body SANZAAR said in a statement.

Prop Alaalatoa was sent off just after halftime in the Brumbies' last-gasp win over the Melbourne Rebels on Saturday for making contact with the head of opposite number Pone Fa'amausili in a tackle.

The Force played the last 15 minutes of their win over the New South Wales Waratahs on Friday with 14 men after Ready punched Waratahs lock Hugh Sinclair off the ball.

It was a first victory in the competition for the Perth-based Force, who went winless last season in their return to provincial rugby some three years after being controversially axed from Super Rugby.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney; Editing by Peter Rutherford)