RYAN Mills insisted there was “no malice” in Will Spencer’s red card tackle despite acknowledging the reasons for his ex-team-mate’s dismissal.

Spencer was sent off in Leicester Tigers’ defeat at Wasps and will miss the chance to face his former club at Welford Road on Sunday (3pm) after being handed a four-week ban.

The RFU disciplinary panel described Spencer’s tackle on Wasps hooker Tommy Taylor as “reckless” and said it “resulted in direct, forceful contact to the head”.

Mills stressed the 25-year-old would never intentionally hurt anyone but reckoned his high tackle could have caused Taylor a “serious injury”.

“It is a difficult one. Because of the letter of the law nowadays you are going to get pinged for that,” Mills said.

“I know Will personally. He is an absolutely top lad and would never have done anything to hurt anyone intentionally. It was accidental.

“Due to the sanctions nowadays if you do that and you don’t get your height right you are going to be red carded.

“They are doing it for the protection of the players.

“You could say that Tommy got up and walked it off but he could have stayed down as it could have caused him a serious injury.

“You can see why they did it. But I have no doubt that there was no malice in that whatsoever.”

Mills said Warriors’ players had been doing a “huge amount of work” on their tackle technique to ensure they do not get penalised.

“If you put yourself in that situation where you make a shot that is borderline you are just allowing the ref the opportunity intervene," he said.

“It is safer now to go a little bit lower but if you go too low you are just allowing teams to offload all the time so that’s an issue as well.”

Spencer joined Leicester in the summer after making 32 appearances over two seasons at Warriors.

Director of rugby Alan Solomons refused to be drawn into the debate over Spencer’s suspension but said he was “sorry” the second row would not play against Worcester this weekend.

“I thought initially it would be a yellow card but to be honest I watched the game and didn’t go back over it again and again so I am probably not in a position to really deliver a comment,” Solomons added.

“Spenny is a great guy, a hell of a good player and I am sorry that he won’t be playing in the game.

“The guys that have done the disciplinary would have studied the film carefully.

"Spenny would have been represented and the matter has finished, so there is no point debating it.”