IRB fine Samoa

"Samoan winger Alesana Tuilagi has reportedly been fined NZ$10,000 [£4933) by the IRB for wearing a "branded" mouthguard for his team's World Cup pool match against Fiji last weekend."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/8798117/Rugby-World-Cup-2011-Samoa-wing-Alesana-Tuilagi-fined-5k-for-unauthorised-mouthguard.html

Getting finned for wearing he 'wrong' mouthguard really is a kick in the teeth...
But joking apart, this is totally over the top and excessive by the IRB to hand down a fine for such a trivial matter, especially when you consider how poor financially a rugby nation Samoa is.
Speaking of which well worth checking out this video, it shows the hardships that Samoa endure, and makes their performances so far in the World Cup even more commendable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpLG7dJuieU
06:20 "we had to pay for our own fare to get here [New Zealand]"

Another interesting side to this incident is how lenient the IRB were in dealing with England and their switching of the ball's incident. With no fine being issued.

Anyhow very poor show by the IRB, so much for the World in Union...

What happened to the investigations of the Samoan Union over the money the IRB gave them that went missing? Arent half of them form New Zealand anyway?

As for the mouthguard, doesnt this just add weight to Tews argument regarding team sponsorship?

There's another thread on this already.