Rugby: Johnson banned for punch

England captain Martin Johnson has been hit with a three-week ban following his punch on Saracens hooker Robbie Russell.

The verdict came after one of the longest Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearings in history, lasting seven-and-a-half hours.

The suspension takes immediate effect, threatening to rule him out of England's potential Six Nations title decider against France in Paris on Saturday week.

But he has 14 days in which to lodge an appeal against the suspension and if he decides on that then he will be free to play once Twickenham receives notice of his appeal and pending a date for the hearing.

Johnson, capped 65 times by his country, left Scottish international Russell requiring six stitches to a cut beneath his left eye and the whole incident occurred during a league encounter between Saracens and Leicester which was caught on camera by Sky Sports.

Johnson was yellow-carded, along with Russell, by match referee Dave Pearson, but RFU disciplinary officer Robert Horner decided that a hearing was necessary.

And in banning Johnson, the RFU could well have set a precedent in that any player sin-binned, at whatever level, and therefore deemed to have been dealt with by the referee, might now find himself facing further action.

Johnson left the hotel at 1.15am without making comment, but Leicester Rugby Director Dean Richards, in a brief statement to the media, said that the Tigers would consider the full implications of the hearing over the weekend.

Johnson was then whisked away in a waiting vehicle, driven by Richards and accompanied by his legal representatives.