Dupuy was handed his original ban after being found guilty of eye-gouging Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris during the Irish province's 23-13 Heineken Cup victory on December 12. The independent appeal committee accepted that, "the original decision had been in error only in a limited and technical manner" and as a result reduced the sanction by seven days.

The appeal decision ends the 26-year-old's hopes of playing in this year's Six Nations and effectively ends his season as he will not be able to play again until May 27. "It's a very heavy sanction," Stade Francais club president Max Guazzini told Reuters after the hearing. "They [ERC] wanted to make an example. The player (Ferris) said himself there was no gouging. The fact that he [Dupuy] is French probably played a role."

"It's been good for me so far," he said. "I've enjoyed being in new surroundings, I feel part of the team at fullback and we're playing good rugby. I really enjoy working with Dorian [West], Paul [Grayson] and Jim [Mallinder].

"He's a former fullback but he let me choose my own path. Now I'm playing fullback he's now giving me direction and help in how to develop. All of the coaches are very good at managing players and I'm looking forward to where they're taking the team in the future."

"There is nothing signed and there's no reason why I wouldn't be here next season," he told The Western Mail. "If the truth be known, the ball is probably in the Blues' court so let's see what happens. Japan is one consideration. But so is staying in Cardiff so let's just wait and see what comes back. I'm certainly not against staying in Cardiff. That's for sure."

"I met with James' agent a couple of months ago but I was told he was under contract until 2011," he told BBC Hereford & Worcester. "Until he is out of contract there's not a chance of him coming here. It's unlikely that a current international would want to leave Wales, as the Welsh RFU has said if players go off and play in England they might not get in the Wales team."

Lauaki will lead last season's beaten finalists against the Sharks in Durban, the Lions in Johannesburg and Western Force in Perth.

"On-field he's hugely influential for this particular group and off-field - as I've been saying for a while - he has a major impact on the culture of the team," coach Ian Foster told The Waikato Times. "I think he's really grown through some ups and downs and become a fantastic leader. We saw a lot of behind-the-scenes leadership last year particularly that was very valuable for us.