Leinster blow as Jennings hit with 12-week ban for gouging

LEINSTER and Ireland flanker Shane Jennings was hit with a 12-week ban after being found guilty of an eye-contact offence during last Friday’s Heineken Cup clash against London Irish.

The severity of the ban comes despite a statement from Exiles captain Bob Casey who admitted the victim of the offence, Nick Kennedy, had overreacted.

And on a day of bad news for the top two Irish provinces, Jerry Flannery has been ruled out of Munster’s clash with Treviso at Thomond Park on Saturday with a calf muscle tear. He could be out for four weeks.

But Jennings hogged most of the limelight yesterday with Leinster promising to vigorously appeal the ban; one that rules the player out of contention for the entire November programme of Irish internationals and the province’s remaining 2009 Heineken Cup games against Brive and Llanelli as well as some crucial Magners League games.

A Leinster statement last night said: “Leinster Rugby is surprised and extremely disappointed with today’s ruling even though there was clear evidence from the opposition player that the act was not intentional... we will be appealing this decision.”

The verdict against Jennings shows the ERC’s zero tolerance towars incidents involving contact with the eye/eye area. It caused ripples through the rugby world last night, not least on the basis of comments made earlier in the week by London Irish captain Bob Casey in a newspaper on Monday.

Jennings was alleged to have made contact with the eye area of Casey’s fellow second row Nick Kennedy, who drew public attention to the incident during the match, pointing to his eyes and at the referee.

However, Casey subsequently admitted in his column that Kennedy made a meal of the alleged incident. He said: “The match itself was a dogfight for every blade of turf... I spoke to Nick Kennedy after the match about the incident involving himself and Shane Jennings and he admitted he had overreacted.”

A spokesman for London Irish confirmed yesterday they had made no complaint against Jennings.

Clubs and players who have been hit by similar bans are now beginning to talk openly about their anger at the suspensions being handed down, particularly in relation to other more clear-cut offences.

For instance, an admission of guilt by Bath player Andrew Beattie of stamping on an Ulster opponent during last weekend’s Heineken Cup ban drew only a three-week suspension by the same citing officer. Beattie was sent off by Welsh referee James Jones for the incident.

The injury to Flannery will also be seen a blow to Munster as they prepare for Saturday’s Heineken Cup challenge against the Italians. His place in Saturday’s team will be taken by Denis Fogarty.