Waratahs and Wallaby prop Matt Dunning has been fined $3,000 for breaching the NSW team's disciplinary protocols.

Dunning, 27, pleaded guilty to being inappropriately affected by alcohol in public after damaging a door hinge of a Sydney taxi early on Sunday morning.

The NSWRU disciplinary committee found the damage to the taxi was accidental and the second allegation of misconduct was not established.

A door hinge of the cab was damaged by Dunning around 2am on Sunday outside the Concord Hotel run by his former Wallaby team mate and fellow prop Bill Young.

The driver subsequently lodged a complaint with the police but Dunning later resolved the issue with the cab owner.

Dunning had previously been fined $5,000 for an alcohol-related matter in 2003 and was also fined $500 last year for staying out late in the week of a Test match against South Africa in Cape Town.

The fine must be paid to the spinal injuries unit of the Royal North Shore hospital on or before September 30.

"I personally think it is a harsh fine, but men smarter than me came up with that fine," Dunning said.

He said he had "had a few drinks" but was definitely in control of his actions.

Dunning said he had leave to appeal the decision, but would wait another couple of days because he was "trying to understand the finding".

"Although I believe I wasn't drunk, I conceded that a person could consider me drunk," Dunning said.

He said the committee of chairman Terry Willis, players' representative, Waratah and Wallaby hooker Adam Freier and independent representative Kim Garling took much of the three and a half hour-hearing to try to establish what constituted being drunk.

Representing Dunning, Rugby Union Players' Association boss Tony Dempsey said he was concerned by the decision and the precedent it set.

"We are concerned about a finding that a player can be drinking in a hotel and therefore be in breach of the protocol," Dempsey said.

"We've got to go back and look at the wording of the code."

Dunning said he hadn't been in an angry or violent state of mind at the time of incident and had pushed the door open to get out quickly to speak to his brother.

"It bounced back and the hinge was damaged," said Dunning.

NSW Rugby Union chief executive Fraser Neill said his organisation had taken a hard line on the incident as it had standards it wanted to maintain.

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