Best hit with 18-week ban

Northampton Saints flanker Neil Best has been handed an 18-week ban for eye-gouging a player during a Guinness Premiership game ten days ago.

Northampton Saints flanker Neil Best has been handed an 18-week ban for eye-gouging a player during a Guinness Premiership game ten days ago.

Best admitted illegally making contact with the eye or eye area of London Wasps' James Haskell and has been ruled out of action until January 28 next year.

The suspension rules him out of Ireland's end-of-year internationals as well as leaving his chances of making the Ireland set-up for the 2009 Six Nations hanging by a thread.

Ireland kick-off their Six Nations campaign at home to France just over a week after the ban is due to expire.

The Northampton forward was made to wait until Wednesday to discover his fate after appearing before Rugby Football Union (RFU) disciplinary chiefs on Tuesday.

He will now also miss eight rounds of Guinness Premiership action, plus all of Northampton's European Challenge Cup and EDF Energy Cup pool matches.

The 29-year-old, capped 18 times by Ireland, was reported by independent citing officer Ken Pattinson. It was only his third Premiership appearance after joining Northampton from Ulster this season.

He was charged “with an act contrary to good sportsmanship under law 10.4k”.

Best's Northampton team-mate, hooker Dylan Hartley, received a six-month suspension last year after being found guilty on two counts of eye-gouging. The incidents also happened against Wasps, and also involved Haskell, together with Wasps flanker Johnny O'Connor.

Hartley's suspension meant he was ruled out of contention for a place in England's 2007 World Cup squad.