Stade Francais scrum-half Julien Dupuy has officially appealed against his six-month ban for gouging.
Stade scrum-half to fight six-month suspension
Stade Francais scrum-half Julien Dupuy has officially appealed against his six-month ban for gouging.
The France international was found guilty by an independent disciplinary committee for eye-gouging Ulster's Stephen Ferris during Stade's 23-13 Heineken Cup defeat at Ravenhill.
The suspension means that Dupuy will miss the rest of the season, including the RBS Six Nations.
However Dupuy has received the backing of Stade Francais boss Max Guazzini, who described the ban as "excessive" and "anti-French", and Les Bleus chief Marc Lievremont.
Guazzini remarked: "The ERC wanted to make an example of a symbolic player of Stade Français and of the French team which has never had a disciplinary problem.
"It's not normal that a private organisation in Ireland prevents a club employee from working, from playing. It is we who pay him."
