Lock Tounesi appeared before a judicial committee on Monday charged with the offence which occurred during a match against Japan in Auckland last weekend. Italy won the game 21-8.
The verdict was announced yesterday.
The independent disciplinary committee was chaired by Christopher Quinlan, who was joined by judicial officer Brenda Heather-Latu of Samoa and former All Blacks scrumhalf Ofisa Tonu'u.
The committee said they had considered all of the evidence including from the victim, the player (Tounesi) and the video footage of the incident.
"The committee concluded that the player bit a Japanese player which offence merited a red card and accordingly upheld the citing complaint.
"The committee decided that the appropriate entry point was mid-range (18 matches) but having regard to her mitigation, reduced the sanction to 12 matches."
Tounesi will miss out on Italy's first-ever World Cup quarter-final against France on Saturday. The remainder of her suspension will be determined by the Italian team's future schedule.
― With AAP.
