Greening to find fate on Monday
March 24, 2002

The International Rugby Board will hold a hearing on Monday to discuss the controversial citing of Phil Greening.

The Wasps hooker was ineligible for selection in England's triumphant final victory over Fiji after the IRB's citing officer Dougie Hunter reported him for apparently stamping during the semi-final win over Wales.

Referee Graham Templeton sin-binned Greening and the England management have still not been informed whether or not the citing was for the same incident, though the hooker believes it is.

If so, England manager John Elliott fears it could be a repeat of the Martin Johnson affair.

Johnson was binned for punching Saracens hooker Robbie Russell during a club match, but the Rugby Football Union decided further punishment was necessary and dished out a three-week ban.

The punishment in this case is likely to be nowhere near as severe - a retrospective one-match ban, relevant only to Sevens, is the most that is expected.

Hunter, tournament director Peter Burbridge-King and Allan Payne of the Hong Kong RFU will meet in the morning.

Payne said: "Obviously I can't determine the outcome tonight but from past experience, when a Hong Kong player was cited recently in Sevens, there was a one-match suspension."

The citation was made two minutes before the hour deadline was up, leaving England no time to appeal and Greening was only informed he was banned as he walked on to the pitch.

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