The ERC did itself no favours last Friday, when it emerged that it had breached its own rules regarding the respective nationalities of match referee and the citing commissioner in the case of Benoit August. The Biarritz captain and hooker was cited for a dangerous tackle on Bath's Danny Grewcock in the Heineken Cup semi-final between the two teams on 22 April. Because the referee (Alain Rolland) and the citing commissioner (John West) were both from the IRFU, the case was dismissed.

From the television pictures it looked like a clear case of gouging, as August's fingers clearly made contact with Grewcock's eyes. However, the ERC charged August with "illegal tackling", which carries a maximum penalty of 6 months suspension. (Gouging can earn a player a 2 year suspension.) As a result of all this bungling, August escapes all sanction and is free to play against Munster in the Heineken Cup final on Saturday week.

He better not pull that stunt on any of the Munster boys, or he'll have to be tunnelled out of Cardiff directly back to Biarritz...