Rugby:Julien Dupuy will appear before am ERC disciplinary hearing on Thursday charged with an alleged eye gouging offence. The Stade Francais scrum half was cited following an incident involving Ulster's Stephen Ferris during last Saturday's Heineken Cup match at Ravenhill.

If found guilty, and television replays are not flattering, the French international can expect a lengthy ban ruling him out of next season’s Six Nations. The minimum sanction for gouging is 12 weeks.

Dupuy has admitted he was “stupid” to get involved with Ferris at a ruck but maintains he did not deliberately gouge the Ulster flanker.

Speaking in France, where incidents of gouging are colloquially known as ‘the fork’, Dupuy pleaded his innocence

"I admit, I put my hand in my eyes," Dupuy said. “But this is not necessarily a fork: my hand is open."

The fact that David Attoub was also accused of gouging Ferris in a separate incident has not gone down well with the French club, who issued a statement this afternoon apologising to Ulster.

The Parisians said the players had "harmed the image of the club and would like to apologise to the Irish province of Ulster for which it has a deep respect”.

Irish international Tommy Bowe, meanwhile, has been cited for an alleged dangerous tackle against Viadana last Saturday.

The Opsreys back will face a disciplinary hearing, presumably ahead of this weekend’s return fixture, following an incident involving Kaine Robertson.

The citing was lodged by ERC appointed citing commissioner, Scotland’s Iain Goodall, for a dangerous tackle (lifting a player from the ground and either dropping or driving that player’s head and / or upper body first into the ground whilst the player’s feet are off the ground) in contravention of Law 10.4 (i).