England and Exeter winger Jack Nowell has been fined £10,000 by the Rugby Football Union for criticising a refereeing decision on Twitter.

The 30-year-old accepted his post prejudiced the game when appearing in front of an independent disciplinary panel on Wednesday.

He has to undertake a referees’ course, with the fine being donated to charity.

Nowell said referee Karl Dickson’s decision to show Woodburn his second yellow card for a deliberate knock-on was “one of the worst decisions” he had ever seen.

“I’m actually in shock, like shock shocked. What the hell is happening? That’s one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. EVER,” he wrote.

Nowell later deleted the tweet, which was posted to his 61,000 followers on Sunday.

“Respect for match officials – even if we disagree with their decisions, indeed especially if we disagree with their decisions – is a core part of rugby union. It is not a value that we can turn on and off when we choose,” said panel chair Matthew O’Grady.

“Mr Nowell accepted his tweet, which was viewed many hundreds of thousands of times, was not fair comment and crossed the line of what is acceptable by a person with his considerable status in the game.”