"It will be massive for Rugby in France the further they get. David obviously is French and it will be a benefit to Catalan to have as many French players on the field."

Interesting that Catalans submitted this in defence of the player.

I can just hear the response from the committee now ... '' look lad, nowt personal but we've hated the frogs for a thousand years, so we aint cutting you any slack this time, on yer bike ''

Leeds prop forward Ryan Bailey has been cleared to play in Friday's Super League preliminary semi-final against Huddersfield after successfully overturning a one-match ban.

Appeal and it gets turned over. That's the way it is.

What's the point in handing out the ban in the first place?

Absolute bollox! If he's been up before the beak that many times then there's something going on for him to get cited so many times then continually get off. Did they find another angle which showed he didn't go in with the knees?

It goes from this from the RFL...

"We have discussed this at length and we have decided there should be a 1 match suspension, we have taken due to the fact that in just over 12 months you have received a Caution and a Warning for the same offence. It was obvious that Tickle felt it and luckily he was able to play on. There was a serious risk to injury in this situation and we feel that a 1 match ban and a £300 is required".

To the Leeds appeal...

"We recognise the way Ryan carries the ball, he is a "bumpy carrier". He runs the line and shrugs off the defenders. The consequence is that he gets the timing wrong and his knee is leading and high. When correct he raises his leg to power through the line. This is the version where he gets it wrong. We have worked in training from the previous caution and looked at it in training to make it more of an upper body shrug. The player added I realise that it was wrong and there was no intent to cause injury and know I need to sort this out in my game. Brian McDermott also added, he hopes the panel show leniency, I know we are at an important part of the season. The possibility of missing him for the game at the weekend is enough to make us take notice of this. He is an animated character and a very tough player who shows aggression. All the media around Ryan has been about who is going to knock him out. He is working on his discipline and has shown huge improvements, having had no issues over the last 14 games. Ryan is definitely a work in progress and both we and Ryan realise that"

Absolute load of rubbish!

Well not so much the appeal from Leeds but it was their guilty plea, which I'm guessing will be similar to the appeal.

If he's had a caution ad warning for the same offence in 12 months then a ban should be handed out. How many warnings/cautions do you need before a ban??

So have Catalan appealed? Surely if it is the same offense (and probably a lesser one than the Bailey incident) then you would think that Catalan are within their right to do so. Not sure how it works with the Catalans players as they are hardly going to fly them over from France to the RFL so it must be a different process.

Having said that even if Catalan did appeal, Bailey does play for Leeds after all.

Knees up Ryan Bailey
Knees up Ryan Bailey
Not top of the table you must go
Ee-aye, Ee-aye, Ee-aye-oh
If I catch you bending
I'll saw your legs right off
Knees up, knees up
Never get the breeze up
Knees up Ryan Bailey

Oh my, what a rotten player
What a rotten player
What a rotten player
Oh my, what a rotten player
And what a rotten team
Too-oo-ooh