Dragons flanker Ollie Griffiths was ruled out for up to two months after breaking his jaw in the Challenge Cup clash with Russian side Enisei-STM last month, but the player cited for his role in the injury picked up a nine week playing ban.

Now Dmitrii Gerasimov has lodged an appeal against the suspension imposed on him by an independent Disciplinary Committee. The foul play was referred to tournament organisers EPCR by the citing officer at the Round 2 match at the Slava Stadium, Moscow on 21 October, 2017.

The independent Disciplinary Committee upheld the citing complaint and found that Gerasimov struck the Dragons flanker with his shoulder in contravention of Law 10.4 (a). Griffiths suffered a broken jaw as a result of the incident, had to leave the field and lost his chance of playing for Wales in the Under Armour Series this month.

The appeal will be heard in London on Wednesday, 8 November by an independent Appeal Committee consisting of Simon Thomas (Wales), Chairman, Frank Hadden (Scotland) and Gareth Graham (England).

The Dragons have meanwhile added former Wales Under 20 centre Joe Thomas to their squad on loan from the Ospreys. Thomas plays for Aberavon in the Principality Premiership and made his Ospreys in 2015 when he came off the bench against Gloucester in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.