Quinlan appeal: Kidney keeping his spot
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:42
Ireland still haven't given up hope of banned veteran back row Alan Quinlan being on their bench for Saturday's Test against Argentina at Croke Park.
Quinlan was given a three-week ban Wednesday for stamping on New Zealand's Rodney So'oialo during last weekend's 3-22 defeat against the All Blacks.
That appeared to rule the 34-year-old Munster loose forward out of this weekend's match with the Pumas, but Ireland said Thursday an appeal against the ban would be heard Friday.
In the meantime, Ireland coach Declan Kidney has kept a space on the bench open for Quinlan.
The forward was cautioned on Saturday by referee Mark Lawrence who allowed a penalty against New Zealand to stand.
But English citing officer Peter Larter decided the incident warranted further investigation and, on Wednesday, International Rugby Board judicial officer Professor Lorne Crerar banned Quinlan for three weeks in a move that effectively said Lawrence had made a mistake in not taking stronger action.
An IRB statement said the Scot had suspended Quinlan for three weeks on the grounds that he ought to have been sent off for stamping in contravention of Law 10.4 (b) - "a player must not stamp or trample on an opponent".
A spokesman for Professor Crerar confirmed to AFP that merely lodging an appeal would not in itself be enough for Quinlan to carry on playing while he awaited a final verdict, which explains why his case is now being reviewed this Friday.
Defeat on Saturday, combined with a Scotland victory over Canada, would see Ireland drop down into ninth in the world rankings.
That would leave them in the third tier of next's month's draw in London for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and put them in a pool with two sides ranked above them.
With only the top two from each pool going through to the knock-out stages, Ireland's hopes of a successful World Cup could be compromised nearly three years before the tournament starts.
