Best banned for 18 weeks

Ireland rugby international Neil Best has been banned for 18 weeks by the Rugby Football Union after admitting illegally making contact with the eye or eye area of Wasps’ James Haskell with his hand during a Guinness Premiership game on September 20.

After a two-and-a-half-hour hearing in London yesterday, attended by Best, the three-man RFU panel decided on further discussions this morning, prior to handing down their decision.