Perpignan hooker Marius Tincu's appeal against a four-month gouging ban has been dismissed.
Perpignan unhappy after hooker's appeal is dismissed
Perpignan hooker Marius Tincu's appeal against a four-month gouging ban has been dismissed.
Tincu was handed the sanction by Heineken Cup organisers European Rugby Cup (ERC) after being found guilty of "making contact with the eye/eye area" of Ospreys prop Paul James during Perpignan's 15-9 win on October 18.
And that decision was upheld by an independent appeals committee on Friday.
The committee "found that Marius Tincu had not demonstrated that the original decision had been in error, or that it should be overturned or varied, and accordingly the Appeal Committee dismissed the appeal and upheld the suspension imposed on the player of eighteen weeks".
Tincu will not be eligible to play again until March 10 and Perpignan have vowed to fight the ruling which it angrily dismissed as "a denial of justice."
Fundamental principles
"The ERC has quite simply 'rewritten' the fundamental principles of European rights," Perpignan said in a statement published on their official website.
"We reserve the right to follow all possible avenues in front of national and international sporting courts, but also to challenge the ERC in front of civil tribunals.
"Perpignan cannot accept the unacceptable, namely the condemnation without a shadow of proof of its player Marius Tincu."
The Catalan club had earlier
threatened to withdraw from the European Cup if the appeal failed.
