The Hurricanes captain was heading to the sin bin after being penalised for his part in a melee when he drew his thumb across his throat as he exchanged words with Rebels scrum half Ryan Louwrens (31).

Savea later apologised, saying the gesture was "out of character" for him.

He faced a foul play review committee as he had been booked and received a warning having contravened the law that states a player must not do anything that is "against the spirit of good sportsmanship".

"After considering a number of factors... and due to the nature of the player's persistent offending, with both the yellow card and the warning being issued for unsportsmanlike play, an appropriate sanction for the player would be a suspension of one week," Judicial Committee Chairman Nigel Hampton said.

Savea will be suspended for Saturday's crucial home game against the Blues.

Savea accepts throat-slitting sanction

Savea was quick to regret his throat-slitting gesture towards an opponent and has accepted his one-week ban, his Wellington Hurricanes coach said on Wednesday.

"He accepted it pretty much straight away. When he was sitting in the sin bin for 10 minutes (he knew) it was something he shouldn’t have done," Hurricanes coach Jason Holland told New Zealand media.

"I’m aligned with him on that and to get the one-week sanction is the way it is and we accept it.

"Ardie was sorry and we just have to get on with accepting that and get on with what comes next."

Holland said he was not sure what led to Savea making the threatening gesture at Louwrens as he walked off to the sin bin.

"I don’t think there was any one thing - it was just a combination of how everything unfolded there with people running in from both sides and a bit of adrenaline going but as we’ve said, there’s no excuse for where we got to at the end of it," added Holland.

"Like all of us, you can be a pretty special leader and still make a mistake and that’s what has happened with Ards (Savea) with a little bit of adrenaline going."

Follow all the action from the Super Rugby season on Flashscore.