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Byrne banned and Ospreys fined

Lee Byrne was taken off as a blood injury on Saturday © Getty Images

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Ospreys fullback Lee Byrne will miss Wales' opening Six Nations match against England on February 6 after being handed a two-week ban by the ERC for his part in the 16th player row.

Byrne pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct after briefly appearing as a 16th man in Ospreys' Heineken Cup victory over Leicester Tigers at the Liberty Stadium on January 23. The club have been fined 25,000 Euros but survived any action that would have prohibited their participation in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

Byrne will be free to play again on February 13, the day of Wales' second Six Nations fixture, against Scotland at the Millennium Stadium.

Leicester reacted furiously to Byrne's return following a blood substitution, with the Lions fullback rejoining a defensive line, containing his replacement Sonny Parker, that thwarted a break by Tigers scrum-half Ben Youngs.

The panel found that while Byrne should have known that he needed permission to return to the pitch, his indiscretion had not been premeditated and had no material effect on the result, which sent Leicester out of Europe.

The Ospreys will now be free to take on Biarritz in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals on April 10 in San Sebastian.

"The independent disciplinary committee found that Mr Byrne had re-entered the pitch without the referee's permission and that he knew or ought to have known that he needed that permission," read an ERC statement. "The committee found that this represented a clear breach of the substitution protocol, which forms part of the Heineken Cup 2009-10 tournament rules, and that the club could have done more to ensure that such a breach did not occur.

"However, the committee found that the breach had not been deliberate or premeditated on the part of the club's management and that there had been no material effect on the match."

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