Cheika fumes as Jennings has 12-week ban upheld
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Friday October 23 2009
LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika last night mounted a staunch defence of Shane Jennings after the flanker's appeal against his 12-week suspension was denied.
Jennings was suspended for "alleged contact with the eye or eye area" of London Irish second-row Nick Kennedy during their Heineken Cup clash at the RDS a fortnight ago and Leinster were "confident" they could the ban overturned at yesterday's appeal.
But the independent appeal committee dismissed their case and confirmed that Jennings would not be able to play again until January 7, ruling him out of Ireland's November international series.
"We're more interested in Shane's career than his loss to Leinster because both his career and his reputation have been tarnished," said Cheika.
"We will be standing by Shane during this difficult time and I know that he will emerge stronger from this disappointing judgment.
mystified
"We are mystified by the decision and the whole process because we still maintain that Shane wasn't guilty of anything. To be cited in the first instance, it requires the incident to warrant a red card, but it didn't even merit a penalty, never mind a red card," he added.
"Unfortunately the Disciplinary Officer wanted to pursue the matter even though there was verbal and written testimony from the London Irish player (Kennedy) stating that he 'over-reacted'."
The independent appeal committee was chaired by England's Christopher Quinlan, who was assisted by Rod McKenzie of Scotland and Jean-Noel Couraud of France. They found that Leinster and Jennings had not demonstrated that the original decision had been in error, or that it should be overturned or varied, and accordingly dismissed the appeal.
Jennings had made an impressive start to the season with Leinster and was seen as a strong challenger for a place in Ireland's back row for next month's games against Australia and South Africa.
- Hugh Farrelly
Irish Independent
