The Leinster flanker was cited following the defending champions' 12-9 Heineken Cup defeat to London Irish on Friday night in Dublin.
Kennedy reacted furiously to the incident during the game and accused Jennings of poking a finger in his eye, although he later claimed to have over-reacted.
At a European Rugby Cup Ltd disciplinary hearing in Dublin today, Jennings was found guilty of acting 'contrary to good sportsmanship in that he made contact with the eye or eye area of Nick Kennedy'.
The judicial officer Roger Morris from Wales decided the offence was at the low end of the scale and, having taken into account any mitigating and aggravating factors, he banned Jennings until January 6, 2010. Both parties have the right to appeal.
Jennings will miss eight matches for Leinster, starting with Saturday's Heineken Cup trip to Brive and including the back-to-back European encounters with the Scarlets.
He will be available again to Leinster for their Magners League game against Glasgow at the RDS on the second weekend of January.
In our view, there have been too many instances of this type of offence recently and we hope that it is not introduced into Sweden.
Having been subject to an attempted gouging this year in an elite game ,by a senior green and whiter, eyes are sadly no virgin territory in Sweden.Maybe his hand slipped sir!but when this cute understanding nice type was rooting around in my face looking for my eye socket i was less understanding.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope that it was un-intentional. There is absolutely no place in the game for this! it is a cowardly act and only an gutless person would commit it. If it's caught on film/video then send it into the Union and demand action against the culprit. In our view a 12 week ban is not sufficient, it should be at least 12 months!
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