England winger Mark Cueto faces an anxious wait to hear if his World Cup preparations will be severely dented after being cited.
The Sale captain will appear at an RFU disciplinary panel next week after independent citing officer Matt Bayliss took action against Cueto for ‘making contact with the eye or eye area’ of Northampton’s Christian Day.
The Saints won the game 53-24 and Cueto will appear in front of a panel on April that will be chaired by Antony Davies with Clif Barker and David MacInnes also included.
The minimum ban for the charge is 12 weeks but could be double that time and would seriously damage Cueto’s hopes of being on the plane to New Zealand.
Current England hooker Dylan Hartley missed the 2007 tournament in France when he was banned for 26 weeks for a similar incident.
Cueto, 31, won his 50th cap during England’s RBS 6 Nations win and has scored 16 tries since making his debut in 2004.