David Attoub has been found guilty of gouging Ulster’s Stephen Ferris. The Stade Francais prop has yet to learn how long he will face on the sidelines but he is looking at a ban of months rather than weeks.
Attoub’s Stade teammate Julien Dupuy has already received a 24-week ban, which was subsequently reduced by one week on appeal, for gouging Ferris in the same match at Ravenhill last month.
Given the photographs published of the Attoub incident, which didn’t make for pleasant viewing, it is hard to envisage the prop forward escaping with a lesser sanction.
The ERC did not reveal how serious they considered the offence, stating merely that Attoub “had made contact with the eye / eye area” of Ferris and that the issue of a sanction would be “dealt with at a later date”.
If, as expected, Attoub is adjudged to have commited an offence in the ‘top end’ range he could be banned for anything from six months to three years. Even if he was found guilty of an offence in the ‘lower end’, the minimum recommended sanction is 12 weeks.