Stade star Dupuy to appeal eye gouging ban

JULIEN DUPUY, pictured, is to appeal his six-month suspension for eye-gouging during Stade Francais’ Heineken Cup Round Three defeat to Ulster.

The scrum-half was encouraged to appeal by France head coach Marc Lievremont, who said he would not tour South Africa in the summer if he did not get the ban reduced.

France are due to depart for South Africa a week after Dupuy’s ban ends on July 3.

Stade Francais owner Max Guazzini also criticised the ban, saying it was ‘anti-French’.

He said: “The ERC wanted to make an example of a symbolic player of Stade Français and of the French team which has never had a disciplinary problem. It’s not normal that a private organisation in Ireland prevents a club employee from working, from playing. It is we who pay him.”