Azam out for 12 weeks

Gloucester hooker Olivier Azam has tonight been suspended for 12 weeks after pleading guilty to kicking England captain Steve Borthwick in the eye.

Azam had only just returned from a nine-week eye-gouging ban when he clashed with Borthwick in Gloucester’s Guinness Premiership defeat to Saracens on September 27.

The Frenchman will not be able to play again until December 29, which rules him out of Gloucester’s first four Heineken Cup matches and six Premiership games.

Gloucester’s next match after December 29 is the home league clash against Worcester on January 2.