Ospreys to appeal Holah's two-week ban

THE OSPREYS are to appeal Marty Holah’s two-week suspension with a view to getting the veteran flanker on the field against Munster at Thomond Park this Sunday.

Having been cited after last week’s 33-16 defeat of Edinburgh, Holah was adjudged to have tripped and played Chris Patterson without the ball by a Welsh rugby union disciplinary committee, chaired by Terry Vaux, on Tuesday.

The appeal, providing there is time to convene a new committee in the next 48 hours, will go back through the Welsh union as the Magners League does not have an independent disciplinary panel.

Capped 36 times by New Zealand, Holah was tempted overseas in 2007 due to the presence of Richie McCaw on the openside flank. In the past year the 34-year-old has formed an impressive backrow alongside fellow All Black Jerry Collins and ex Welsh captain Ryan Jones. Justin Tipuric (21) is poised to take his place at number seven in Limerick.

The Ospreys are already without their two most valuable attacking weapons in Shane Williams (shoulder) and Lee Byrne (thumb). Both were injured against New Zealand last month.

The club expressed their disappointment yesterday with Byrne’s failure to show up for two scheduled medical appointments.

“Further investigations yesterday confirmed a fracture at the base of the thumb, and in light of this he is unlikely to be available for selection for an estimated period of five weeks from now.

“The Ospreys were unfortunately not in a position to confirm the severity of the injury at an earlier date, despite it being flagged up by the WRU, after Lee failed to attend a consultation with a specialist that had been arranged by the union. He then failed to report to a scheduled screening on his return to the Ospreys, meaning the medical team were not in a position to effectively confirm a diagnosis of his injury status until late last week.”

Meanwhile, Leinster have registered Clint Newland in their Heineken Cup squad in place of the recently retired Ronan McCormack, while Connacht added their latest Kiwi signing Rodney Ah You in place of prop Denis Buckley.

Ah You was a member of New Zealand’s winning Junior World Cup sides in 2007 and 2008 and is likely to feature off the bench for the Challenge Cup clash against Harlequins on Sunday.