Lawyers acting on behalf of Toulouse, Gareth Thomas, the Welsh RFU and Trevor Brennan have been refused an application for an adjournment into the misconduct complaints against both players by the ERC which is scheduled for this Thursday in Dublin.

On foot of an initial application by Toulouse to have the hearing adjourned, lawyers representing Thomas, a former Welsh captain, who has 90 caps and a record 37 tries for his country, and the Welsh RFU had also sought an adjournment. Thomas is due to play in the opening round of Six Nations matches for Wales against Ireland on Sunday.

Daniel Spring and company, acting on behalf of the 13-time capped Brennan, whose wife, Paula, is due to give birth imminently, also had their application for an adjournment refused.

The legal representatives of both players had wanted additional time to deal with the massive documentation involved in the case surrounding events at the Toulouse-Ulster Heineken European Cup pool match at Stade Ernest Wallon on January 21st, when both players had altercations with members of the crowd.

The independent Disciplinary Committee will be chaired by HH Jeff Blackett (England), who will be joined by Rod McKenzie (Scotland) and Achille Reali (Italy).