Stade Francais scrum-half Jerome Fillol has been banned for 14 weeks for spitting at opposite number Peter Stringer in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final at Bath last weekend.

The 35-year-old pleaded guilty at a disciplinary hearing in Dublin this afternoon and will now miss the rest of the season.

Fillol won’t be eiligble to play again until August 12th as the suspension will take into account the closed season and will therefore cover a 10-week period until June 16th and a further four weeks from July 15th until August 12th.

The incident occurred in the 25th minute of the match at The Rec, which the French club won 36-20, with the judicial officer (Anthony Davis) at today’s hearing identifying no aggravating factors.

“The judicial officer found that Fillol had spat in the face of Stringer and that it had been an intentional, deliberate and grave act,” explained a European Rugby Cup (ERC) statement this afternoon.

“He determined that the act warranted a top-end entry point from the IRB’s sanctions for spitting and considered that 26 weeks, from the available range of 11 to 52 weeks, was the appropriate entry point.

“The judicial officer identified no aggravating factors, and after taking into account compelling mitigating factors, which included the genuine remorse expressed by the player at the hearing, as well as his exemplary record and strong character references, the judicial officer applied mitigation of 12 weeks, before imposing a sanction a 14 weeks.”

Both the player and ERC have the right to appeal the decision.

The two number nines had already exchanged words prior to their clash. Nothing untoward was seen by referee Nigel Owens and his assistants at the time, but replays released by the ERC today show Fillol spitting straight in Stringer’s face.

Stringer said after the game that spitting on an opponent was “as low as you can probably go”, and followed that by tweeting that he was “disgusted”.