HARRY ELLIS faces being ruled out of action until the New Year after being cited for an alleged dangerous tackle on Daniel Carter during the 26-20 Heineken European Cup defeat at Perpignan on Sunday.
Leicester have key Premiership matches against their title rivals Harlequins and Bath over the holiday period and need their England scrumhalf available. No date has been set for the hearing which was brought by the match's citing commissioner, Iain Goodall.
He deemed the tackle by Ellis, who had been on the field only a few minutes as a replacement, dangerous enough to warrant a red card.
Carter, who was tipped over and plummeted towards the ground head first, later said the experience was "pretty scary".
If the disciplinary panel finds that Carter was spear tackled, Ellis could face a ban of more than four weeks.
The Wales captain, Ryan Jones, will be fit to play for the Ospreys against Newport Gwent Dragons in the Magners League on Friday night after recovering from a foot injury. The Ospreys, and the other three Welsh regions, have blocked plans by the Welsh Rugby Union to arrange a fourth international against the All Blacks next November and to play midweek matches during the 2010 tour to New Zealand. The two sides are in dispute about €558,210 that the regions say was not paid to them as compensation for releasing players to appear in last year's World Cup.
London Irish, meanwhile, have received a boost ahead of their top-of-the-table game against Gloucester on Saturday by agreeing new contracts with the recently-capped England players, Nick Kennedy, Topsy Ojo and Paul Hodgson.
The trio have all signed three-year deals to remain with the Exiles. "We are part of something special going forward and it won't be long before we win that elusive piece of silverware," Kennedy said of his decision to stay with the club, who lead the competition for the first time since October 1999 .
• Guardian Service
