Cheika fumes as Jennings ban upheld

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has launched a staunch defence of Irish flanker Shane Jennings whose disputed 12-week ban was upheld by an appeal committee sitting in Dublin yesterday.

Jennings was handed the ban last week after being found guilty by a judicial officer of making contact with the eye area of London Irish player Nick Kennedy in the Heineken cup game at the RDS in Dublin on October 9 last.

Yesterday, a European Cup Rugby statement said: “The independent Appeal Committee ... found that Mr Jennings had not demonstrated that the original decision had been in error, or that it should be overturned or varied, and accordingly the... Committee dismissed the appeal and upheld the suspension imposed on the player of 12 weeks.”