ADAM Beard’s World Rugby U20 Championship is over after the Wales lock was handed a nine-week ban for making contact with the right eye of an Irish opponent.

The Ospreys prospect appeared before a disciplinary panel in Manchester this morning after the incident at a maul where he caught Ireland’s Kelvin Brown.

A World Rugby statement read: “The player had not intentionally or deliberately targeted the eye of the Irish player however the judicial officer (England’s Mike Hamlin) found the contact to be reckless.”

Beard, who played seven times for the Ospreys last season, will miss the remaining four games of the tournament and will miss the Liberty Stadium side’s opening two games of the Guinness Pro12 with the suspension expiring on September 10.

His ban is a blow to Wales after they lost to Ireland in the Pool A opener, a defeat that means they must beat Georgia on Saturday and New Zealand on Wednesday to qualify for the semi-finals.