European Cup news: The Biarritz Olympique hooker Benoit August, who captained the side in their Heineken European Cup semi-final win over Bath in San Sebastian on Saturday, will appear before an independent disciplinary committee as a result of a citing lodged against him for an incident in that match.
The citing was lodged by the ERC-appointed citing commissioner for the match, former Irish international referee John West, and is against August for alleged contravention of Law: 10-4 (e), in that he allegedly committed a dangerous tackle on the Bath lock Danny Grewcock, and contravention of 10-4 (k), in that he appeared to make contact with Grewcock's eye in the tackle.
Video evidence regarding such incidents is usually difficult to ascertain, but in this case it looks very damaging for August, despite Grewcock's post-match assertion that it was probably accidental.
August's hearing will most likely take place early next week and, in line with IRB regulations, if he is found guilty of making contact with Grewcock's eye the Biarritz hooker will receive a minimum suspension of three months (if deemed a lower end offence) rising to nine months (mid-range), 18 months (top end) or a maximum of 24 months.
August's loss would be felt, for he was signed from Stade Francais in large part for the accuracy of his throwing, which would be considered superior to that of his understudy Benjamin Noirot. Against that potential loss, Biarritz are hopeful of having their normal captain, experienced French backrower Thomas Lievrement, back for the final.
John Kelly remains Munster's biggest concern in the fallout from Sunday's semi-final at Lansdowne Road, although the results of a scan on his injured shoulder will not be known until today. Similarly, the extent of Rob Henderson's ankle injury will only be revealed today, although the one-time Ireland and Lions centre was reported to be walking quite freely on Sunday evening.
Munster have to travel to Netherdale for a Celtic League tie against the Borders on Friday evening (24 hours before the leaders Leinster host the Ospreys in Lansdowne Road) and are hopeful that one or two of their walking wounded, such as Alan Quinlan, Mike Mullins and Christian Cullen, might be able to take some part in proceedings.
Marcus Horan should also have recovered from the torn groin which sidelined him for the last three weeks in time for the final on May 20th, but he is not expected to travel to Scotland.
It has also transpired that Leinster's Kiwi lock Bryce Williams may have broken his hand in the early stages of Sunday's game, although likewise, results of a scan on his injury will not be confirmed until today. If it is as feared, then the Bourgoin-bound Williams may have played his last game for Leinster.
RTÉ's coverage of the Leinster-Munster match attracted the highest ever audience for the competition on any station in Ireland. The match drew a peak audience of 648,000 representing a 64 per cent share of people watching television at that time.
Glen Killane, RTÉ head of TV sport, said: "This caps a very strong season for RTÉ's rugby coverage and not only underlines the growing popularity of the sport but also the quality of RTÉ's output".
Before this match, the highest audience for the European Cup was recorded during Munster's quarter-final win over Perpignan with the audience peaking at 584,000, representing a 49 per cent audience share. Ireland's Triple Crown win over England this year also broke all previous records with the audience peaking at 821,000 during the game - the highest audience for the Six Nations.
