Ellis gets six-week ban for Carter spear tackle

Leicester and England scrumhalf Harry Ellis was banned for six weeks on Friday for his spear tackle on New Zealand and Perpignan flyhalf Dan Carter in the teams' Heineken Cup clash last weekend.

Ellis was cited after the incident when Carter, making his debut for the French club, was upended in a tackle and landed head-first.

Leicester pre-empted Friday's independent disciplinary committee hearing in Dublin by banning Ellis for one game and he admitted he had been guilty of making a dangerous tackle.

The committee decided though that the offence was "of the top-end of the level of seriousness for a dangerous tackle" and suspended him until 25 January inclusive.

The ban rules him out of Leicester's two remaining Heineken Cup pool stage matches and effectively ends his chances of reclaiming the England scrumhalf berth from Danny Care for the Six Nations championship, which begins on 7 February.