A Marlborough club rugby player in New Zealand has incurred a hefty 45-week suspension for a tackle which left its recipient with life-threatening injuries.

After a three-and-a-half-hour Tasman Rugby Union judicial committee hearing on Thursday, Osa Seuea was served with the ban - one of the longest ever imposed by the Union.

The ban was for a tackle performed in a division two game on May 2 between Seuseu's Central team and Harlequins at Lansdowne Park in Blenheim. The tackle was an illegal shoulder charge to the mid-section of Harlequins five-eighth Jordy Taylor. The hit came as the playmaker's mid-section was exposed as he reached for a high pass.

Seuea struck Taylor under the ribs with a charge doctors likened to being "hit by a sledgehammer".

Taylor suffered three broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and had a kidney almost split in half. While in hospital Taylor suffered a collapsed lung and contracted pneumonia. He has been advised by his doctor not to play rugby again.