Brumbies to appeal Speight ban for dangerous tackle

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The ACT Brumbies have appealed the five-week ban given to winger Henry Speight for a dangerous tackle, but the hearing will not take place until after the Super Rugby semi-finals. Speight was sent off last week for slamming Stormers centre Juan de Jongh head-first into the ground in his side's 39-19 playoffs victory in Cape Town and subsequently banned on Wednesday for five weeks for the incident. Ruling body SANZAR, however, said on Friday they had received notice the Brumbies would appeal the ban. The appeal hearing would take place on June 30. The Brumbies play the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday in the first of Super Rugby's semi-finals, though a SANZAR spokesman said that Speight would not be able to play as the initial ruling was still in force. (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)