Wales captain Sam Warburton has conceded referee Alain Rolland was right to send him from the field in the Rugby World Cup semi-final.
Warburton received a red-card in the 18th minute of the match against France when his tackle lifted Vincent Clerc off his feet, in a manner deemed by the International Rugby Board to be dangerous.
Warburton was sorely missed by his team as they battled on without their skipper for more than an hour before eventually falling 9-8 at Eden Park.
Irishman Rolland was the target of Welsh ire for days afterwards with many suggesting the incident was not deserving of a red card and the referee's decision being a knee-jerk reaction.
Warburton now looks back and concedes the correct decision was made and said he harbours no complaints.
He said his tackle on Clerc was "uglier" than he first thought.
"I can't complain. There was no point in appealing against it and I didn't have a leg to stand on really," Warburton told AP.
"At the end of the day the IRB said if you lift up a player and drop him it's a red card, and that's exactly what I did."
His outlook had changed from how he felt immediately after the match, when he was firm in his belief that he had committed "a normal tackle".
However he said having viewed the incident on replay he had changed his opinion.
Rolland received report from the IRB for enforcing their laws regarding lifting tackles but has not been considered to referee any of Wales' games in next years Six Nations tournament.
Warburton is facing a challenge to retain the captaincy as Mathew Rees returns from a neck injury that forced his withdrawal from the Rugby World Cup.
Wales Coach Warren Gatland will have a tough decision to make before his teams final match of the year when they meet Australia at Millennium Stadium on December 3.
