Maidstone Rugby Club have been given a date for their appeal against the 50-point deduction imposed after the eye-gouging incident which left Gravesend’s Clarence Harding blind in his right eye.

Club officials have been invited to attend a hearing at the Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury Hotel, on Tuesday, March 3.

Chairman Andy Golding, pictured, said the club were pleased to have been granted a hearing, but added that the RFU had still to confirm exactly what format it would take.

The points deduction, coupled with a £2,000 fine, was imposed in January after the club were found guilty of a conduct prejudicial to the Union during a Kent Cup tie in January 2010.