London Irish have suspended centre James Cockle with immediate effect as a result of his sending-off for stamping on an opponent in last Saturday's Zurich Premiership game against the Sharks.
The club have reviewed a video of the game and have exercised their right to suspend the player in advance of the formal English Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing scheduled for London today.
"While it was apparent that Cockle acted through crass stupidity rather than malice, his behaviour was intolerable as far as London Irish was concerned," said a statement on the club's website, www.london-irish.com.
A spokesman for the club added "Our action shows how seriously London Irish takes these disciplinary matters.
"The team suffered for James Cockle's stupidity on Saturday and unfortunately, will continue to do so this weekend given the current injury crisis among our back-row players.
"We will be travelling to Toulouse for our first ever Heineken Cup match without any specialist back-row cover."
Banned England prop Julian White was yesterday considering whether to appeal against the disciplinary ban which rules him out of the autumn Test matches.
The Bristol player, capped 13 times by England, has 14 days to decide on a possible appeal as he contemplates being sidelined from rugby until December 9th.
As it stands he must sit out England's games against Southern Hemisphere heavyweights New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, while also being sidelined for three of Bristol's European Cup matches.
White was sent off for butting Leicester prop Graham Rowntree 10 days ago, although a three-man RFU disciplinary panel admitted that he had reacted "as a result of extreme provocation by Leicester players".
He could have received a far greater punishment, possibly 20 weeks, but there is no doubt that his previous poor disciplinary record still counted against him.
The Australian Rugby Union says planning for next year's World Cup is on track as it prepares to open ticket sales to the public.
Ticket booklets will be available on October 20th, six days after what the ARU terms the 'rugby community' is offered the chance to watch some of the 48 games over 44 days.
Rugby's showcase tournament begins one year from today when defending champions Australia meet Argentina in Sydney.
Tickets for that match, and the finals, will be available in a ballot drawn next February as tournament administrators try to avoid criticism of the ticketing process.
The tournament has already sparked controversy after New Zealand was stripped of co-host status, leaving Australia to stage the event on its own.
