NICK POPPLEWELL has been asked to appear before an English Rugby Football Union disciplinary tribunal next Monday to answer a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

The Irish international prop has already been fined a week's wages by Newcastle for punching Bedford's Scott Murray during a live televised Courage League Division Two match at Goldington Road on April 5th.

Popplewell could face a suspension of 30 to 60 days, depending on whether he is deemed to be guilty of violent play, or the more tenuous disrepute charge is made to stick.

Newcastle's director of rugby, Rob Andrew, responded promptly by fining the Irishman, and this might be regarded as sufficient punishment.

The RFU will be stepping into a potential legal minefield if Popplewell is handed an additional punishment that interferes with his ability to earn a living as a professional rugby player.

In any case, both Popplewell and the RFU may decide they need legal representation to ensure that the rules of natural justice are observed. Having received a yellow card for his offence (which it transpired did no lasting damage to Murray), the Irishman could plausibly argue that the RFU disciplinary meeting is putting him in double jeopardy.

By all accounts, the Bedford match was littered with niggling incidents that mostly went unpunished or unnoticed. To some degree, Popplewell, who has a good disciplinary record for a player in his position, may have become a scapegoat for Newcastle's growing reputation for cynical play.

Roy Manock, head of the RFU's national discipline panel, has taken almost two weeks to study the evidence, contact Popplewell and set up the hearing. It will be conducted in the northeast and chaired by Berkshire's representative on the RFU committee, Jonathan Dance.

The panel has the power to discipline Popplewell as though he had in fact been sent off. Newcastle expect to wrap up promotion with two points this weekend, so any ban for the rest of this season would be irrelevant.

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