Toulon full-back Armitage has 12-week ban reduced on appeal

Delon Armitage’s 12-week ban for the use of abusive language has been reduced to eight weeks on appeal.

An independent disciplinary committee found that the Toulon full-back had directed abusive language at Leicester supporters on December 7.

However, the Appeal Committee have since claimed an “error” was made when sanctioning the ban, meaning the 31-year-old will be able to return to action on February 9.

A European Club Rugby statement read: "An independent Appeal Committee has today upheld an appeal by Delon Armitage against the 12-week suspension imposed on him for misconduct.”

The three-man appeal panel that met in London on Thursday delayed their verdict until Friday evening.

The statement continued: "The Appeal Committee found that the independent Disciplinary Committee had made an error in how they determined the period of the appropriate sanction for the misconduct and moved to impose a suspension of eight weeks on the player.

“The suspension will now run from 17 December 2014 until 8 February 2015, therefore Armitage will be free to play on 9 February 2015."

Armitage was banned for eight weeks in 2011 after a misconduct complaint for using threatening and/or abusive language towards an anti-doping official was upheld, and he has also been suspended on three separate occasions for incidents of foul play on the pitch.