Rugby: Hopley calls for disciplinary revamp

Players’ union chief Damian Hopley has called for a fully integrated disciplinary system to ensure his members’ interests are taken into account at future hearings.

Martin Johnson’s fate was decided by a leading member of the legal profession at Twickenham yesterday, just as a lawyer acting on behalf of the Rugby Football Union handed him the original 21-day ban for his punch on Saracens hooker Robbie Russell.