Grimes was cited after the match and appeared before an International Rugby Board judiciary tribunal in Melbourne which handed down the suspension based on a precedent set in a 1999 case - a decision which could have widespread consequences for the future of rucking in the game.

The grounds for Scotland's appeal are believed to be the severity of the sentence, which rules Grimes out of Saturday's second Test against Australia and Newcastle's first pre-season friendly.

The official statement from the panel's chairman, Chris Morris, concluded: "The player accepted his actions breached the rules. The committee was therefore only required to consider the question of whether to impose a sanction.

"Taking into account the player's record over a long career and the acceptance of the breach, the committee felt a suspension of two matches was appropriate.

"Taking into account the player's forthcoming schedule he was accordingly banned from all rugby until midnight, August 13.''

But there are also grave concerns within the camp as to how the hearing was conducted and its consequences for rucking in rugby.

It is understood there was no admission of guilt from the Scotland representation of Grimes, assistant coach Todd Blackadder or team manager Guy Richardson because at no time during the hearing could the three-man panel - two Australians and a New Zealander - give an adequate explanation as to what a charge of ''trampling'' actually meant.

The incident was spotted by referee Paul Honiss and both touch judges and the consensus was at the time that Grimes' over-exuberant actions warranted no more than a word in his ear - which went along the lines of ''you are not Edmund Hillary, stop climbing mountains''.

Further clarification confirmed that Honiss did not even feel it worthy of a penalty and he reported to the panel that he could see no malice in Grimes' actions and Lyons, Australia's hulking 18-stone number eight, was not injured in the incident.

Rucking is the act of clearing an opposition player away from the ball, an accepted practice providing the motion of the foot is backwards, not dangerous or near the head.

It is very different to deliberate stamping and often a necessary action to free the ball at the breakdown. Without it, the game would need a dramatic change in the laws to prevent play being killed by opposition defenders cynically lying on top of the ball at the breakdown.

But the judiciary panel delved into the history books and based their decision on the case of Auckland forward Glen Taylor in 1999, a precedent which seems to advocate a complete ban on rucking in the game.

Taylor was suspended for three weeks for ''trampling'' and the panel at the time concluded it was illegal for a player to be cleared away from the ball by use of the feet.

In what was an odd hearing, the decision to invoke the 1999 Taylor precedent immediately threw into question the IRB's consistency on the matter.

This time last year, New Zealand lock Ali Williams was cleared of stamping on the head of England fullback Josh Lewsey.

The explanation on that occasion was that the contact with Lewsey's head, dangerously near his eyes, was ''inadvertent and incidental to Williams' endeavour to ruck the football in a situation where access to it was impeded by the position of the English players in the ruck''.

While Williams may have been not guilty of a deliberate act of stamping, his rucking action was condoned - in direct contravention to the precedent used in Grimes' case.

Scotland face being seriously weakened ahead of Saturday's Test with Scott Murray, the other half of their first-choice second row, battling to recover from a hip injury to be fit in time.

The captain was taken to hospital after the match yesterday and, although he avoided damaging the joint, scans revealed severe bruising and internal bleeding into the muscles.

Murray took part in a recovery session in the sea off Manly beach today but Scotland's doctor James Robson said it was still too early to gauge whether he will recover in time.