Chabal apologises for referee comments

France back-row forward Sebastien Chabal has apologised for his critical comments about referees which have landed him a ban – but stopped short of retracting them.

The 33-year-old was yesterday provisionally suspended by his club, Racing Metro, for comments in a newspaper interview ahead of the release of his autobiography in which he questioned the ability of referees, and also suggested they favour rivals Castres.