Azam pleaded guilty after being cited

Gloucester hooker Olivier Azam has been banned for 12 weeks for kicking England captain Steve Borthwick in the head.

Saracens forward Borthwick needed five stitches in an eye wound following the incident on 27 September.

Azam, who had just returned from a nine-week eye-gouging ban, will miss Gloucester's first four Heineken Cup matches and six Premiership games.

Gloucester lock Adam Eustace was also banned for three weeks for stamping on Justin Marshall in the same match.

The suspensions bring to four the number of players Gloucester have had banned from the opening five matches of the season.

Captain Gareth Delve had a three-week ban for punching reduced to two weeks on appeal, while flanker Andy Hazell has already been forced to sit out a week for stamping.

Frenchman Azam insisted after the Premiership match against Saracens that any contact with Borthwick had been accidental and that he only lashed out with his right leg because his left ankle was being twisted at the bottom of a ruck.

But at a Rugby Football Union hearing in Bristol, Azam pleaded guilty to the charge and was banned from playing until 29 December.

Gloucester have until 1200 BST on 9 October to decide whether to appeal against the length of Azam's ban.

Borthwick is expected to return to action on 15 October, when Saracens face Toulon in the Challenge Cup.

Meanwhile, the RFU has cleared Bath winger Joe Maddock of a dangerous tackle on Leicester's Geoff Parling.

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