Azam maintains his innocence

Gloucester Rugby hooker Olivier Azam is adamant he was not guilty of foul play despite being banned by RFU disciplinary chiefs for an alleged gouge.

The Frenchman maintains he did nothing wrong – definitely not on the level of South Africa's Shalk Burger's clear gouge in the second Test against the British and Irish Lions.

But Burger was banned for a week less than Azam, who was hit with a nine-week suspension which keeps him out until September 18.

"The first thing I knew I had done anything wrong was when the hearing was set," Azam said.

"The incident happened in a tackle. My hand caught the face of the player I was tackling and that was it.

"It was not a static situation in a maul or a ruck. I feel hard done to. I didn't do anything wrong."

Asked why he thought video evidence of the incident was never made available, Azam said: "I believe it was because it will show I didn't do anything."

The case was originally thrown out because the citing officer had submitted it too late, only for the hearing to be reconvened and find Azam guilty.

Azam will miss the first two league games of the season and Gloucester's three pre-season games, including Andy Hazell's testimonial against Bath on August 15.

"It's very disappointing," he said. That is a game I would really love to have played in.

"I will still be there and maybe I can coach that day instead."

Azam is delighted with the change of emphasis new head coach Bryan Redpath has already brought to pre-season training.

"He is enthusiastic and energetic," Azam said. "He is bringing that to training and it's excellent."

But he still has respect for Dean Ryan, who he worked with for seven years at Gloucester.

"There were good times with me and Dean and others which were not so good, but he had a lot of success at Gloucester," Azam said.

"Now we can all look forward and begin this new chapter. I'm excited and so are the rest of the squad."