Pascal Pape loses appeal into ban for Jamie Heaslip foul

Pascal Pape’s RBS 6 Nations career has ended in acrimony after the France lock lost his appeal against a 10-week ban for kneeing Ireland’s Jamie Heaslip in the back. 

Pape had claimed the 10-week sanction was “excessive and disproportionate”, but a Six Nations disciplinary committee threw out his case at a hearing in London.

The 34-year-old is set to retire from Test rugby after the autumn’s World Cup: now his last meaningful Six Nations contribution has become the challenge that left Heaslip with three cracked vertebrae in his back.