PELOUS BANNED: France captain Fabien Pelous has been suspended for nine weeks after elbowing Australia's hooker Brendan Cannon in last Saturday's match in Marseilles, the International Rugby Board (IRB) said yesterday.
The ban, until January 10th, rules him out of France's November internationals against Canada, Tonga and South Africa, as well as French league and Heineken Cup games for Toulouse.
The lock was cited by the IRB commissioner after Saturday's game, which France won 26-16, though he later apologised.
Pelous elbowed Cannon in the 46th minute. The hooker left the field for treatment for 10 minutes but was able to finish the game.
"I was upset when I saw the video of the incident," Pelous said on Tuesday.
"The ball was gone, I was running upfield to put pressure on Australia's kicker when Cannon changed direction and cut my path.
"I flung out my elbow to go through. It was stupid but I did it without premeditation, stupidly and purely instinctively."
The 31-year-old, who has 102 caps, attended yesterday's hearing in London where he offered his apology and good disciplinary record in his defence.
Pelous had been dropped to the bench for Saturday's Test against Canada pending the result of the hearing. He is replaced in the starting side by Lionel Nallet with the captain's duties passing to the other lock, Jerome Thion.
SCHOOLS INTERPRO: Connacht came close to causing a major upset at the Sportsground yesterday in what was their first ever schools' interprovincial clash with Munster's first team, going down 6-12 to the southerners.
Connacht's performance adds to the belief that at all underage levels Connacht are now very much on par with the other provinces.
Two well-struck penalties by outhalf Alan Gaughan gave the home side a deserved 6-0 half-time lead after they had put Munster under considerable pressure for long periods.
Ten minutes into the second half Munster managed the crucial breakthrough when a maul was stopped short. They attacked on the blindside and Scott Deasy found a gap to score.
The conversion was missed but five minutes later Munster got their noses in front when secondrow Ian Nagle touched down after an impressive drive from the Munster pack. Deasy converted and Munster lead for the first time.
Connacht's heads didn't drop and they kept the result in doubt right to the end with some strong defence.
Munster had chances to extend their lead but didn't take them in a stop-start second half.
This is the first season that a Connacht schools interprovincial side are taking on the strongest sides from Munster and Leinster and yesterday's performance showed their participation at this level was long overdue.
Connacht take on Leinster in Athlone next Wednesday, November 16th, at 2pm and the following Wednesday they travel to Enniskillen to play Ulster.
CONNACHT: P Hunt (Sligo GS); A
Ó Connaill (St Joseph's Coll, Galway), J O'Brien (Garbally), W Gibbons (Clifden CS) (Capt), P Madden (Clifden CS); A Gaughan (Athlone CC), R Shaughnessy (Col Iognaid); N Harney (Cistercian Coll, Roscrea), S Hayes (Cistercian Coll, Roscrea), C Higgins (Gallen CS); B McManus (Athlone), D Nolan (Galwegians); D Murphy (Col Iognáid), K Creavin (Marist), M Coyne (Clifden CS). Replacements: R Walshe (Gallen CS) for Hayes, B Henshaw (Marist) for
Ó Connaill, J Browne (Col Iognáid) for Nolan.
MUNSTER: S Scanlon (Crescent CC); R O'Mahony (Castletroy), S Deasy (PBC), E Broderick (St Munchin's), S Costigan (PBC); R Mullane (St Munchin's), D Upton (Crescent CC); D Kilcoyne (Ard Scoil Rís), M Sherry (Ard Scoil Rís); S Archer (CBC), K Hanley (Crescent CC) I Nagle (Glenstal Abbey); I Duffy (Rockwell), N Barry (PBC), K Essex (CBC). Replacements: M Kenefick (PBC) for Hanley, C Nolan for Upton. Referee: Ken Henley-Willis.
CANADA TEAM: Lock Mike James will captain Canada in their Test match against France on Saturday in Nantes.
Canada are without prop Jon Thiel, who left the team after hurting his right thigh in training on Tuesday.
