Jennings cited as Hayes opts to appeal

LEINSTER’S RAPID descent towards crisis continued yesterday when flanker Shane Jennings was cited for alleged contact with the eye or eye area of London Irish lock Nick Kennedy during last Fridays 12-9 defeat at the RDS.

It was also confirmed yesterday that John Hayes and Munster have appealed the six-week suspension meted out by the IRFU following the stamp to the head of Leinster’s Cian Healy in the Magners League fixture on October 3rd.

The Jennings/Kennedy incident became apparent when the English lock refused to release Jennings after the two clashed on the ground in the first half of their highly-physical Heineken Cup encounter. Kennedy made signals to his face, and French referee Romain Poite was forced to speak with both players.

Jennings is charged under law 10.4 (l), acts contrary to good sportsmanship. But Bob Casey revealed in his Irish Times column that his secondrow partner informed him after the game that he overreacted in the heat of the moment. Scottish citing commissioner Richard McGhee disagreed, and a hearing is expected to be convened later this week.

Suspensions for such incidents have varied recently, with Neil Best (18 weeks), Alan Quinlan (12 weeks) and Schalk Burger (eight weeks) the most high-profile cases.

The Hayes appeal will take place at the IRFU offices on Lansdowne Road today at 5.30pm. The appeal panel will be chaired by Billy Glynn, with Leo Galvin and George Spotswood assisting.

As it stands, the 94-time capped tighthead prop, who is 36 on November 2nd, is due back on Saturday, November 14th, the day before Ireland face Australia at Croke Park.

The Magners League post-match disciplinary structures are non-existent so the home union must deal with each case.

The original panel of Hugh Logan (chairman), Stephen Hilditch and Neil Jackson deemed the offence to warrant a high-end sanction under law 10.4 (b) which carries the minimum ban of nine weeks. However, taking Hayes’ previously exemplary disciplinary record over a marathon career into consideration, a six-week suspension was deemed sufficient.

Hayes is appealing as the current ban possibly rules him out of the first November international against Australia. He’s already missed Munster’s 31-27 defeat to the Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Garden on Saturday. Tony Buckley was selected at tighthead prop for the match with Julien Brugnaut (a summer signing from Dax) coming in on 67 minutes.

It is unclear what the Munster defence of Hayes will be, as they would make no comment yesterday and only sought an appeal on the receipt of the written judgment from the Ravenhill hearing.

Television footage showed Healy was repeatedly stamped upon in the 54th minute of Leinster’s 30-0 win at the RDS Showgrounds by Hayes and at least one other Munster forward. Hayes’ boot made contact with Healy’s head just above the left eye.

The young Leinster prop seemed to be trying to illegally pull down the Munster maul. This action, according to Sky Sports commentator Stuart Barnes when speaking to The Irish Times last week, should have warranted a yellow card from referee Simon McDowell to go with Hayes’ red.

With Hayes expected to be available for Munster and international selection throughout this season, failure to reduce the suspension may speed up the process of grooming a new scrum anchor ahead of the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand. Cork’s Mike Ross started for Leinster against London Irish on Friday, while questions remain about the scrummaging ability of Buckley who, like Hayes, played most of his early career in the secondrow.

A fit-again CJ van der Linde is expected to put pressure on Ross this week ahead of Leinster’s crucial Heineken Cup match in Brive.

However, Leinster coach Michael Cheika may look at resting Healy, who along with Shane Horgan has played every minute of Leinster’s season thus far.

Brive have five Englishmen in their squad – Andy Goode, Jamie Noon, Shaun Perry, Steve Thompson and the injured Riki Flutey, along with Welsh flanker Alix Popham.

Leinster, like Munster who play host to Benetton Treviso fresh from their surprise 9-8 victory over Perpignan, report a clean bill of health.