Anglesea ban incurs the wrath of Sale

Peter Anglesea, the Sale loose forward found guilty of eye-gouging an opponent from Newcastle during a Premiership match at Heywood Road earlier this month, is preparing to appeal against the 12-month suspension dished out by a Rugby Football Union tribunal on Monday night. While Rob Andrew, the Newcastle director of rugby, described Anglesea's action as "barbaric", the Sale chairman Quentin Smith talked of his "astonishment" at the outcome of the hearing. In light of the fact that Andrew and Smith cannot both be right, another long and potentially embarrassing disciplinary wrangle is on the cards.

English rugby is getting used to these courtroom dramas. In 1998, the Bath and England prop Kevin Yates was convicted of ear-biting and banned for six months – an incident that threw into question the RFU's approach to judicial matters and would have gone to the High Court had Yates had the money to push his case to the limit.

Last season, the England captain Martin Johnson found himself in the dock, having used his knee to scramble the ribcage of the Saracens outside-half Duncan McRae. Unlike Yates – and Anglesea too, if Sale are to be believed – Johnson was caught by the television cameras, yet received a punishment tailored to minimise any impact on England's chances in the Six Nations' championship. Indeed, the great man of Leicester was declared available the night before England's opening fixture against Wales in Cardiff.

Like both the Yates and Johnson cases, this one could run and run. "We have scrutinised all the available evidence," said Smith, an experienced lawyer, yesterday.

"If the club had seen bad conduct anything like that which was alleged, we would have dealt with it without having to receive a complaint. But we did not see such conduct. We consider Pete Anglesea to be a player of integrity and honesty. We will review the evidence, and everything said at the hearing. An appeal can be expected."

Anglesea was accused of gouging the Newcastle flanker, Jon Dunbar, in the opening minute of Sale's convincing victory over the Falcons on 8 September. Dunbar went off for immediate treatment, although he later returned to the field.

"I was not prepared to sweep the matter under the carpet," said Andrew, the former England and Lions outside-half, who attended the hearing in Leeds. "It was a barbaric act inflicted on a defenceless player. Rugby is a tough game; no one knows that better than me. But three things are unacceptable: biting, gouging and kicking or stamping on a player's head."

Any appeal will have to be against conviction rather than sentence, for Anglesea was given the lightest possible rap. The recommended suspension for gouging is anything between 12 months and three years, with a norm of 18 months. Richard Nones, a prop with the French club Colomiers, was banned for two years for gouging during a Heineken Cup match at Pontypridd in 1999, and never played European rugby again.

On the subject of Europe, the second-string European Shield competition has attracted sponsorship – some £3m of it – for the first time in its five-year history. It is now called the Parker Pen Shield and this season's tournament, which begins on Friday night when Connacht meet Narbonne, will feature teams from seven nations. Of the English clubs hoping to follow the example of Harlequins and gain automatic entry to the élite Heineken Cup by winning the Shield, Sale, Saracens, Gloucester and London Irish will fancy their chances. The others – Bristol and Leeds – have been lumbered with hard draws. Bristol must deal with a resurgent Neath and a crack Bourgoin team, while Leeds face the unbeaten Beziers and Pontypridd.

Much of the fascination will surround the performances of the two Spanish club outfits, the national champions Valladolid and the domestic cup-holders Madrid 2012. Who knows? One of them may even win a match.