Armitage gets one-month discount

Toulon fullback Delon Armitage will be allowed to play again in February, after his ban for insulting fans was reduced by a month.

An appeal committee on Friday upheld the appeal by Delon Armitage against the 12-week suspension imposed on him for misconduct.

The 31-year-old was slapped with a lengthy ban after an exchange of words with Leicester Tigers fans, following a European Champions Cup group match last month.

However, following an appeal, his return date has been brought forward from March 8 to February 9.

The England international was sanctioned for verbally abusing Leicester fans following his side's 21-25 defeat at Welford Road on December 7.

He was banned from December 17 by an independent disciplinary committee.

"The Appeal Committee found that the 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," said an EPCR statement.

Armitage, who joined Toulon in 2012 to link up with his brother Steffon, will miss the last two rounds of European Champions Cup group games later this month, but will be available for Top 14 action on the weekend of February 20/21.

The appeal committee was made up of Lorne Crerar (Scotland, chairman), Rod McKenzie (Scotland) and Jean-Noel Couraud (France).