French lock Paul Gabrillagues has had his six-week ban that he received last week cut down to just three-weeks it has been confirmed.
The lock received the initial ban for an
incident of foul play in France’s win over Scotland on August 17th and
feared that he could be cut from Jacques Brunel’s 31-man World Cup squad due to
the severity of the ban.
However, Gabrillagues appealed the ban in
front of an independent appeal committee and they felt that the original ban,
which was under Law 9.20 which is a mid-range entry point of a six-week ban,
was a bit harsh due to the player’s admission and so on which meant it was reduced.
The new ban means that instead of missing
three World Cup games with the French like the original ban would have caused,
he will now only miss one game which will be the side’s first match of the
tournament against Argentina.
As the French played Scotland again last
Saturday, which he would have played in if available, and play Italy this
coming Saturday, those two games will count as the other two weeks of the ban.
It is a huge boost to the French team who
now know that there will be no change in personnel in the squad as they prepare
for that Argentina game on September 21st.
