All Blacks loose forward Adam Thomson says he accepts his one-match suspension but is disappointed he put himself before a rugby judiciary hearing.

Thomson was handed the ban after being found guilty of trampling on the head of a Scottish opponent.

The blindside flanker was yellow-carded in the 44th minute of New Zealand’s 51-22 win at Murrayfield on Monday (AEDT) after putting his sprigs on the back of Alasdair Strokosch’s head at a ruck.

He was subsequently cited for foul play and attended a disciplinary hearing in London.

“It’s a pretty long day and I’m pretty exhausted, but just glad to have it over,” he said after rejoining the All Blacks in Rome.

“It was a fair process and I’m happy with the whole process. I never intended to make contact with the player in the game and I had a fair chance to lay that case today.”

The 30-year-old Thomson, who has 29 caps, said having a blot on his record was “massive”.

“I pride myself on the way I conduct myself on the field,” he said.

“To have such a long career and to have a clean slate, and to get to this stage and have a blip is disappointing.”

Thomson had earlier received backing from an unlikely quarter, with Strokosch saying after the match that he barely felt the contact and he didn’t feel the act was deliberate.

Thomson said the pair had a chat about the incident after the game.

“Unfortunately, there are accidents and that was the case,” he said.

“He was certainly very supportive of that and we got on well afterwards.”

The length of Thomson’s ban has attracted criticism, with former England hooker Brian Moore, Samoan centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu and British rugby writers among those going on Twitter to maintain that it was too lenient.

That led IRB chief executive Brett Gosper to respond with his own tweet saying the board would review the case.