Jerry Flannery gets six week suspension to miss Six Nations

MUNSTER and Ireland hooker, Jerry Flannery, has been suspended for six weeks by and independent disciplinary committee who upheld the citing made by Peter Brown in the match between France and Ireland at Stade de France last Saturday. The suspension means that Flannery will miss the remaining games in the Six Nations, should any appeal made by the player fail.

The statement released said: “The independent disciplinary committee, chaired by Roger Morris (Wales), with Mike Hamlin and John Doubleday (England), considered the evidence before them, including video of the incident and found that the offending had been reckless rather than deliberate and merited a mid-range sanction under IRB Regulation 17.

“The committee also took account of the guilty plea by the player, who acknowledged at the outset that his action warranted a red card, together with the player’s remorse for the injury caused to Alexis Palisson, the France wing.

“The player is free to commence playing again on Monday March 29 and has the right of appeal. 

The IRFU released a statement minutes later saying that they would wait to review the written judgement before considering any possible further action.