Appeal panel rejects Emerick bid

PARIS, France -- The United States will be without the services of Paul Emerick for the rest of the World Cup after the player failed in his appeal against a five-match suspension.

The center has already missed Wednesday's defeat by Tonga, and will have to sit out the Eagles' other Pool A matches against Samoa and South Africa.

And with the U.S. unlikely to progress to the quarter-finals, Emerick's involvement in the tournament in France is almost certainly over.

He received the suspension after being found guilty of a dangerous tackle on England fly-half Olly Barkley in the United States' 28-10 defeat last Saturday.

The original disciplinary verdict deemed Emerick's tackle to have been "premeditated" and "intentional", and he was found to have driven Barkley "in a downward motion."

The three-man appeals panel said in a statement: "The committee was satisfied that the tackle in question was very dangerous and, in the circumstances, a five-week suspension was the correct sanction." E-mail to a friend