Trevor Brennan Hearing:High Court Number 13 is not a venue for the superstitious, but there were no real losers when legal counsel for Trevor Brennan and ERC sparred verbally in front of Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill.
Game time lasted 51 minutes, the matter appearing to be resolved to mutual satisfaction.
The Toulouse and former Ireland flanker was in court as his legal representatives, led by the former Wanderers secondrow Jim O'Callaghan BL, sought an extension of a week to the temporary High Court injunction granted on Wednesday.
For once party to a contest he could not directly influence by deed, Brennan sat attentively at the back of the court, wearing a blue suit, alongside him a representative of the Toulouse club.
The ERC had not been represented when the temporary injunction - it elapsed at 2pm yesterday - had been granted, but they were yesterday. Also present was the ERC chief executive, Derek McGrath.
ERC were arguing against the extension of the injunction, and the serve-and-volley of the verbal tennis was punctuated occasionally by the observations and questions of the judge.
The presence of several court reporters swelled the number of spectators, which included, briefly, the president of the IRFU, Peter Boyle.
The ebb and flow of the contest appeared to favour one side and then another before a consensus was reached.
Brennan's legal team, which included the former Ireland number eight Donal Spring (you could have got a pretty decent pack out of this particular courtroom), asked for time to seek clarification on points of French law.
The upshot of the proceedings was that an independent disciplinary committee will convene next Friday to consider preliminary matters raised by Brennan's representatives concerning the misconduct complaint arising from Toulouse's Heineken European Cup match with Ulster on January 21st.
The independent disciplinary committee will be chaired by HH Jeff Blackett (England), who will be joined by Rod McKenzie (Scotland) and Achille Reali (Italy).
Meanwhile, across town, Brennan's Toulouse team-mate and good friend Gareth Thomas appeared before the same independent disciplinary committee to answer charges relating to incidents that took place in the same European Cup match between Toulouse and Ulster.
The Welshman received a four-week suspension and a fine of €7,500. As a result, he will miss the Six Nations game between Wales and Ireland at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday. He will be available to play again on March 1st.
For Brennan, it appears the legal arm-wrestling is set to continue for some time before he will be called upon to give his version of events on that day in Toulouse.
