KEY POINTS:
All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu has received a formal warning from the New Zealand Rugby Union and has agreed to on-going counselling after pleading guilty to assaulting his wife.
The union said it found him guilty of serious misconduct following a review of the incident that landed him in court last month.
Sivivatu pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife and was discharged without conviction in the Hamilton District Court.
He then faced a review of his conduct by his employer, the NZRU, under the terms of his contract.
As a result he received a formal warning and agreed to on-going counselling.
"Siti has faced the courts, and as a result of that verdict was subject to intense public scrutiny," NZRU deputy chief executive Steve Tew said.
"In the context of our misconduct process, it was important to ensure that any additional punishment from the NZRU was commensurate with the offence.
"The formal warning puts him on notice that we take the matter very seriously while the requirement for counselling is to help Siti work to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."
Tew said the NZRU, the Super 14 franchises and New Zealand Rugby Players' Association put significant emphasis on developing players to manage the pressures of being professional player and a public figure.
"Clearly, we are very concerned when incidents such as these occur which is why we have processes in place to deal with them.
"At the same time, our major concern is that our employees and their families, in this case Sitiveni and his wife, have access to the support and help they need to deal with these issues."
Sivivatu, accompanied by his representative, reiterated his public apology in the hearing conducted by NZRU professional rugby manager Neil Sorensen and All Blacks manager Darren Shand.
"My wife and I are pleased with this result and we will move forward together from now on. I look forward to concentrating on my rugby in the weeks ahead," Sivivatu said.
- NZPA
