FILE PHOTO: Rugby - England - Premiership - Play-off Semi Final - Sale Sharks vs Leicester Tigers - AJ Bell Stadium, Eccles, Britain - May 14, 2023 Sale Sharks' Jonny Hill celebrates after the match Action Images/Ed Sykes/File Photo
(Reuters) - Sale Sharks' England forward Jonny Hill has been banned for 10 weeks - four suspended - after an altercation with a fan, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said on Tuesday.
Hill appeared before an independent disciplinary panel on Monday, the RFU said in a statement, for having allegedly physically abused a spectator in the aftermath of the match between Bath and Sale at the Recreation Ground on June 1.
Hill, 30, accepted the charge, the RFU added.
"The panel concluded the appropriate starting point was a 20-week suspension from playing," said Panel Chair Philip Evans.
"They also found the circumstances of this case to be exceptional and as a consequence, and because of the substantial mitigation available to Jonny Hill, that starting point was reduced to 10 weeks."
Hill will be available to play for Sale on Dec. 7 with four weeks of the ban suspended until the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, the RFU said.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; Editing by Ken Ferris)
