England captain to appeal ban
Saturday, 30 December 2000 20:05England and Leicester captain Martin Johnson is to appeal against the 35-day suspension imposed on him by the Rugby Football Union earlier this week. Johnson received the ban following a ruling by an RFU disciplinary panel that judged he used his knee against Saracens' Duncan McRae and that he was also involved in an off-the-ball incident with Saracens' prop Julian White. Johnson's ban is due to end the day before England's opening fixtures of the 2001 Six Nations campaign against Wales in Cardiff. However, Johnson is hoping that he will be successful in reducing the length of the ban.
He met with officials at his club earlier today and persuaded them to go ahead with the appeal. A statement from Leicester said: "The Leicester Tigers rugby committee met this morning and were later joined by Martin Johnson to discuss the details of the Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing in relation to the charges brought against him. The club have notified the RFU that they are appealing against the sentences in respect of the punching and stamping charges and have asked for the appeal hearing to be convened as soon as possible next week."
Pending the appeal Johnson will miss Leicester's next two Zurich Premiership matches, the Tetley's Bitter Cup semi-final with Harlequins on January 6 and his club's remaining Heineken European Cup group games.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
