Six Nations: Johnson set for hearing next week
England captain Martin Johnson’s appeal hearing will take place at Twickenham next Tuesday.
Johnson and his club Leicester have appealed against the jurisdiction of a Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel that banned him for three weeks for punching Saracens hooker Robbie Russell in a Zurich Premiership game.
Because the appeal could not be staged this week, it freed Johnson to skipper England and win his 66th cap in the potential Lloyds TSB Six Nations title decider against France on Saturday.
The appeal will be held in front of an independent single arbitrator, David Pannick QC.
The 45-year-old specialises in public and administration law, employment law, immigration law, European law and sports law.
He has appeared in more than 40 cases in the House of Lords, 20 in the European Court of Justice and more than a dozen in the European Court of Human Rights.
The appeal could either quash Johnson’s suspension, maintain the three-week suspension or even extend it, and if he loses then he is set to miss England’s March 23 Twickenham appointment with Wales.
