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Nine-week ban for Pelous

09/11/2005

Fabien Pelous has today been hit with a nine-week ban by the International Rugby Board's disciplinary commission.

The France captain was found guilty of having elbowed Australian hooker Brendan Cannon during his side's 26-16 defeat of the Wallabies in Marseille last weekend.

The 31-year-old Toulouse star, who is France's second most capped player, has issued an apology for the incident and has admitted he was "upset" when he saw a video replay of the clash.

"The ball was gone, I was running up field to put pressure on Australia's kicker when Cannon changed direction and cut my path," Pelous, who had gone six years playing for France without being cited, said.

"I flung out my elbow to go through. It was stupid but I did it without premeditation, stupidly and purely instinctively.

"In my own mind there was nothing deliberate about it but I did not do myself justice, that's for sure."

France coach Bernard Laporte is expected to replace Pelous with Lionel Nallet in the second row for Saturday's game with Canada in Nantes.

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