Leicester Tigers: Richard Cockerill fails to get ban reduced

Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill has failed to reduce his nine-game suspension at a Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing.

But the ban has been brought forward, so it now runs from 24 August to 18 October rather than until 3 November.

The punishment now includes pre-season games with Jersey and Ulster and ends with a Heineken Cup tie with Treviso.

Cockerill was suspended because of his behaviour during the the 37-17 Premiership final win over Northampton.

He was found guilty of using obscene, inappropriate and/or unprofessional language and behaviour towards fourth official Stuart Terheege after reacting to a tackle on Toby Flood.

Leicester appealed against elements of the sentence and not the guilty verdict.

A Tigers statement read: "We are pleased that the judgement vindicated our decision to appeal and we are grateful to the panel for the consideration that they showed, although we await with interest the written judgement to see why the pre-season game against Montpellier falls into a different category than those against Jersey and Ulster.

"We remain disappointed with the RFU's conduct in this matter but, as we have previously stated, this is a matter we shall pursue privately.

"The focus now is on the remainder of our pre-season and our preparations for the start of the new season."