Danny Grewcock, the latest England lock to get into disciplinary hot water while playing against Saracens at Vicarage Road, should be notified tomorrow of the date for the Rugby Football Union hearing which will decide his immediate international future.
Video footage of the incident which involved the Bath captain's boot making contact with Kyran Bracken's jaw will be studied by Twickenham's disciplinary officials this morning and a panel is likely to sit next week to adjudicate whether there were any mitigating circumstances attached to the second red card of Grewcock's career.
Unlike Martin Johnson, infamously banned for three weeks last season after punching Saracens' hooker Robbie Russell, the case for Grewcock's defence will be boosted by the victim's insistence that his former flat-mate caught him accidentally. Only if the RFU tribunal decide otherwise and hand down the recommended 12-week suspension for a boot to the head will Grewcock be ruled out of England's three Twickenham internationals in November.
As England's 50-strong training squad gathered in Bagshot for a private two-day get-together, Grewcock's timing could have been better.
Meanwhile, England's determination to do whatever it takes to become the world's best team has led to the RFU's appointment of Manchester United's head groundsman Keith Kent to help ensure the best possible surface at Twickenham. After 15 years at Old Trafford, the 48-year-old Kent will start at the end of the month.
· The Ireland captain Keith Wood, who withdrew from the side that beat Romania last weekend following the sudden death of his brother Gordon, has been named in the squad to face Russia in a World Cup qualifier in Krasnoyarsk on Saturday week. Munster's Anthony Quinlan and Marcus Horan, London Irish's Justin Bishop and Ulster's Paddy Wallace are also included.
The International Board chairman Vernon Pugh is recovering in hospital in Cardiff after weekend surgery to remove a cancerous kidney tumour.
Ireland squad: Backs: Dempsey (Leinster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster), Kelly (Munster), Hickie (Leinster), Bishop (London Irish), Maggs (Bath), Henderson (Munster), O'Driscoll (Leinster), Humphreys (Ulster), O'Gara (Munster), Stringer (Munster), G Easterby (Llanelli). Forwards: Corrigan (Leinster), Hayes (Munster), Paul Wallace (Leinster), Horan (Munster), Wood (Harlequins), Byrne (Leinster), Longwell (Ulster), O'Kelly (Leinster), Cullen (Leinster), S Easterby (Llanelli), Foley (Munster), Miller (Leinster), Gleeson (Leinster), Quinlan (Munster).
