McCullough to hear ERC ruling

Ulster and Ireland lock Matt McCullough will discover today whether he is to face a misconduct charge following a racial abuse complaint from London Irish in their European Cup clash.

Wednesday was the deadline to furnish the ERC with information on the matter, and disciplinary officer Roger O'Connor is expected to inform the clubs whether there is a case to answer.

The Alan Quinlan appeal, which went on for four hours on Wednesday before being adjourned until next Tuesday, delayed any movement on the issue.

The accusation arose after the December 15th meeting between the sides at Ravenhill, which Ulster won 29-13 following a defeat by the same score a week previously at the Madejski Stadium.

A certain level of animosity had developed between the teams and management during that week, but Ulster strenuously denied McCullough directed a racist comment towards London Irish winger Delon Armitage, who is originally from San Fernando, Trinidad.

"Matt has apologised by way of letter for the use of foul language towards Armitage in the heat of the moment during the match, but this should in no way be misinterpreted as an admission to the use of racist language and we regard the allegation made by London Irish most seriously as Ulster Rugby has an unblemished record in relation to racial issues," said Ulster CEO Michael Reid just days after the fixture.

It has been suggested a television microphone picked up the exchange, but this will only become clear if O'Connor decides to proceed with a disciplinary hearing. If such a charge were upheld, McCullough would be the first player in the 12-year history of the European Cup to be found guilty of racial abuse.

From an Irish context, this is the third accusation of racial abuse in European competition. In 2001, Castres eventually withdrew an accusation against Peter Clohessy after it was established to be a tit-for-tat citing after their player, Ismalia Lassissi, was cited by Munster. In 2004, Marcus Horan was cleared of racially abusing the Ospreys' Samoan international Elvis Seviali'i.