European CupMunster prop Marcus Horan and Neath-Swansea Ospreys wing Richard Mustoe, will appear before an independent disciplinary committee - most probably next week - after complaints made against them following Sunday's Heineken European Cup Pool 4 match at The Gnoll.

Jon Davis, as citing officer, was asked to review four citing complaints raised after the game, and having reviewed the match tape yesterday he dismissed two of them, namely the Ospreys' citing of Horan for punching and kicking in separate incidents during the game.

Unsurprisingly, Davis has decided that the citing complaint made against Mustoe, for stamping on Horan's head, will require a disciplinary hearing, as will the complaint against Horan for what an ERC statement said was "alleged comments made during the game to another player under IRB law 10.4.k".

The ERC statement added that "an independent disciplinary panel will now be convened and the hearing will be held as soon as is practicable", though ERC spokespersons were unwilling to speculate as to when this will be.

The independent disciplinary committee is chosen by the chairman of discipline, Prof Lorne Crerar, and this three-man panel normally consists of a legal expert (chairman), an eminent rugby administrator and a former player.

No member of the independent disciplinary committee may be chosen from a country whose club is a party to the complaint, so no Irish or Welsh person will sit on the panel and the ERC disciplinary officer, Roger O'Connor, will present the cases against the cited players, and not the opposing club as in previous seasons.

The timeframe for holding both hearings - most likely on the same day - is complicated by a number of factors.

For example, the case against Northampton flanker Darren Fox for headbutting in their win over Glasgow which resulted in his eight-week suspension was heard last Monday, nine days after the match.

But these hearings could take longer to arrange as the complaint against Horan for an alleged racial slur against the Ospreys' centre Elvis Seveali'i will presumably require oral evidence from the two players concerned, as well as any other players within earshot, and perhaps even the match referee Joel Jutge.

Furthermore, Horan will be in camp with the Irish squad next week preparing for their Test against South Africa, as might any Welsh players whom Seveali'i could conceivably call up.

This whole saga underlines the all too predictable flaws in the ERC's disciplinary procedures - improved though they are - whereby even though they have appointed independent citing officers and a disciplinary officer who could bring about citings of his own volition, the onus still appears to rest with opposing clubs to cite players.

Even if the ERC find it too prohibitive to appoint a citing commissioner in addition to fourth officials, television match officials (TMOs) etc.

Surely the ERC's disciplinary officer or the independent citing officers could become more pro-active in making citing complaints without prompting from clubs.

The TMO, who isn't exactly overburdened with work even during the match, much less afterwards, could surely be employed in some capacity as well.

Invariably, it was only ever going to be a question of time before there were tit-for-tat citings and that this, in turn, would generate bad blood between competing teams who, as in this instance, are destined to meet again.

The episode has left a terrible stigma hanging over Horan's head, with the insinuated slur - like most sledging in sport, publicised cases of it are a relative rarity in rugby - almost clouding over Mustoe's stamping on the forehead of the Munster prop, even though this was an act which left him requiring seven stitches and could have endangered Horan's eyesight.

"We would hope that this hearing will be heard as expeditiously as possible," said the Munster PRO, Pat Geraghty. "The sooner it is heard and Marcus is exonerated the better from his point of view and from our point of view."

Already, the Ospreys have not been vindicated with regard to the charges of punching and kicking against Horan, both of which have been thrown out.

If the Ospreys had been aware of a supposed racial slur, then one wonders why they didn't regard it as a serious enough matter to submit a citing regardless of whether Munster had done so.

One wonders why they waited until after Munster had reputedly notified them, "out of courtesy", that they were citing Mustoe late on Tuesday afternoon, just prior to the 5 p.m. deadline.