Best suspension upheld

NORTHAMPTON and Ireland flanker Neil Best’s appeal against an 18-week suspension for eye-gouging was dismissed last night by a Rugby Football Union panel.

The 29-year-old remains suspended until January 27, 2009.

Best will miss all of Ireland’s autumn internationals.

Best was suspended last week after admitting he had “made contact with the eye or eye area” of Wasps flanker James Haskell during Saints’ 24-20 victory at Franklin’s Gardens.

The RFU panel accepted Best had not intentionally searched for Haskell’s eye. But they did not agree with Best’s account that contact with Haskell’s eye had been “fleeting” and described his actions as “grave”.

Meanwhile, Worcester prop Chris Horsman has been charged with allegedly kicking Harlequins’ opposite number Mike Ross.

Wales international Horsman was cited after the Warriors’ 30-23 defeat at Sixways on October 2. He will appear before an RFU disciplinary panel in Bristol on Thursday.