French forwards Fabien Pelous and Christian Califano will both appear before a World Cup disciplinary panel at Twickenham today. The pair have been cited for incidents in their team's win over Fiji in Toulouse on Saturday.
World Cup officials said Califano has been cited for head-butting, while Pelous has been accused of stamping. The citings follow reviews of the tapes of the game. France meet the winners of tomorrow's quarter-final play-off between Ireland and Argentina in Dublin on Sunday.
"I'm expecting the worst," Pelous said on hearing of the citing. French team manager Jo Maso added: "I'm for justice in sport but it would be very hard to lose one of the team's key men."
Meanwhile, South Africa centre Brendan Venter has been banned for three weeks for stamping on Uruguay flanker Martin Panizza. Venter's will not be available again until the World Cup final - if the Springboks reach it. South Africa spokesman Alex Broun said an appeal has already been lodged and will be heard in the next 48 hours.
World Cup organisers have made a late change to refereeing appointments for tomorrow's quarter-final play-offs due to the outcome of pool matches. New Zealander Colin Hawke has been switched from Scotland's Murrayfield clash with Samoa to take charge of the Wales versus Australia quarter-final in Cardiff on Saturday.
Ireland's David McHugh now takes charge of the Scotland-Samoa Test, with Welshman Clayton Thomas in charge of England versus Fiji and Australian Stuart Dickinson taking the whistle when Ireland meet Argentina in Lens.
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