A court in southern France on Tuesday called for further inquiries to be held into allegations of assault against Toulon's former England flanker Steffon Armitage.
Armitage faces a five to six-month suspended prison sentence and €5,000 ($5,649) fine over the incident which occurred in a Toulon restaurant on December 13.
After the judgement hearing, which Armitage did not attend, his lawyer Clement Lambert said: "There are still a number of grey areas in this case that perhaps further investigation will throw light on."
Armitage, last season's European player of the year and capped five times by England, is alleged to have struck a 31-year-old man at the end of an evening drinking with team-mates following their side's 23-8 victory over Leicester in the European Champions Cup.
According to witnesses, a fight broke out and Armitage, 29, and Toulon prop Xavier Chiocci, 25, who was later released without charge by police, felled the restaurant-goer before striking him, injuring his eye.
At an earlier hearing two weeks ago, the prosecution demanded a suspended sentence and a hefty fine against Armitage, who reasserted his claim that he did not remember hitting anyone and disputed the facts.
Source: AFP