Leicester have suspended their England flanker Lewis Moody for four weeks for striking an opponent in the Guinness A League match against Leeds on Monday.
The Tigers were made aware that Leeds had cited Moody and held a disciplinary hearing at which he pleaded guilty.
Moody will be banned until 6 October, although he still faces a Rugby Football Union hearing on 20 September.
The RFU's maximum ban is 12 months but Leicester's in-house suspension is likely to be taken into account.
Moody is unlikely to receive such a lengthy ban but, depending on the severity of any RFU punishment, he might be forced to miss the November internationals against Australia, New Zealand ans Samoa.
Moody, who had been due to make his first appearance of the season against Wasps on Saturday, had his place in the Leicester starting line-up taken by Brett Deacon.
"Obviously, we would have liked to have had Lewis available, but Brett's had a superb pre-season and is a more than capable replacement," said Tigers forwards coach Richard Cockerill.
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