HONG Kong's Ashley Jones was handed a three-week suspension yesterday - but will be back in time for the trials to pick the national team for December's two internationals against Taiwan.
The ban is back-dated to last Saturday, the day the Hong Kong Football Club prop forward was sent off for kneeing Valley's Tongan centre Isi Tu'ivai in a ruck.
Jones, who said it was the first time he was sent off in a 12-year playing career, will be back in action on November 13, the day Club take on Kowloon in a key First Division match.
The national trials are on November 15.
''If you had told me at the beginning of the season that I would be sent off, I would have laughed,'' said Jones.
''But the decision has been made by the disciplinary committee and I'm willing to live with it.'' The 26-year-old Australian prop, who has played for Eastern Brisbane, Queensland and Harlequins before arriving in the territory, will be a key player in Hong Kong coach George Simpkin's campaign for next year's Asian Rugby Football Tournament which serves as a 1995 World Cup qualifier.