Olivier Azam banned for three months

Gloucester Rugby hooker Olivier Azam will not play again until next year after he was banned for 12 weeks for his kick on Saracens’ Steve Borthwick.

The ban is the maximum a player can receive for use of the boot, with Azam’s previous poor record, including bans for spitting and eye gouging, counting against him.

He was caught on camera appearing to lash out at Borthwick, who had grabbed the Frenchman’s left ankle at the bottom of a ruck in the 11th minute of the game on September 27 at Vicarage Road.

The England captain needed a trip to an eye hospital as a result of the incident, after which Azam denied making any intentional contact.

But the RFU Disciplinary Panel saw it differently at a Bristol Filton Holiday Inn hearing which lasted more than four hours last night.

Azam, who admitted the offence, will next be available for selection for the game against Worcester on January 2, unless there is a successful appeal against the length.

The Saracens game was only Azam’s second since returning from a nine-week ban for ‘making contact with the eye or eye area’ of Cardiff Blues centre Jamie Roberts.

That saw him miss all four of Gloucester’s pre-season games and the first two Guinness Premiership fixtures.

Azam also denied any wrongdoing in that incident, suggesting the video evidence was never released because it showed the contact was minor.

The ban for spitting came during the 2001/2002 season, in an incident involving Epi Taione, who was then playing for Newcastle.

Meanwhile, Adam Eustace was also banned for three weeks after admitting stamping on scrum-half Justin Marshall.

Read Azam’s reaction to the suspension in his exclusive column for The Citizen tomorrow.