Attoub to appeal suspension

STADE FRANCAIS prop David Attoub is to appeal his 70-week ban for foul play.

Attoub was punished earlier this week for making contact with the eye/eye area of Ulster and Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris during a Heineken Cup pool game in Belfast last month.

The 28-year-old is currently suspended until April 22, 2011. An independent appeal committee will be appointed as soon as practicable.

Attoub has been quoted as saying he is “traumatised” by the ban.

Independent judicial officer Jeff Blackett decided Attoub’s offence was at the top end in terms of seriousness.

Blackett described it as “the worst act of contact with the eyes I have had to deal with.”

Attoub’s Stade team-mate, France international scrum-half Julien Dupuy, was banned for 24 weeks by Blackett for a gouging offence in the same Ulster match, also on Ferris. Dupuy had his suspension reduced by one week on appeal, but will be out until May.

Stade, meanwhile, will reach this season’s Heineken Cup quarter-finals as Pool Four winners if they collect at least a point from their clash with Edinburgh at Murrayfield today.

lWales international lock Will James has signed a new two-year contract with Gloucester that will keep him at Kingsholm until 2012. James, 33, who has just returned to full training following a knee injury, joined Gloucester in 2006 from Cornish Pirates.