Italy flanker Mauro Bergamasco has been handed a 13-week ban for gouging and will miss the remainder of the Six Nations.

Bergamasco (pictured) pleaded guilty at a Six Nations disciplinary hearing on Wednesday to poking Wales full-back Lee Byrne in the eye towards the end of Italy's 47-8 defeat at the Millennium Stadium last weekend.

The Stade Francais player will be able to resume playing on June 2, by which time he will have missed the rest of the Six Nations and most of Stade's Top 14 campaign.

Bergamasco, one of Italy's most senior players, could have received a longer ban - last season Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley was suspended for six months for a similar offence.

But the three-man disciplinary committee took into consideration his guilty plea and other mitigating circumstances.

Italy's remaining Six Nations matches see them face France in Paris on March 9 followed by Scotland in Rome a week later, a clash which is likely to settle this year's wooden spoon.

Bergamasco will be available for Stade's last two matches of the Top 14 season as well as the play-offs if the Paris club make it through.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport