Gloucester will not be able to select Olivier Azam and Adam Eustace this weekend after the pair received twelve and two week bans respectively.
Gloucester will have to take on the in form Newport Gwent Dragons without one of their star internationals, Olivier Azam has been banned until December 29 for kicking Saracens' England captain Steve Borthwick in a Premiership match last month, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Borthwick had five stitches in an eye wound after being caught by a boot at the foot of a ruck in the game on September 27 and there were fears the lock might have damaged his socket but a scan revealed extreme swelling and tissue damage.
Former France international Azam, who pleaded guilty before an RFU Disciplinary Panel having only just returned from a nine-week eye-gouging ban, will miss Gloucester's first four Heineken Cup matches and six Premiership games.
His team mate ADAM EUSTACE will miss the first two weekends of the competition after he was banned for three weeks for stamping on Justin Marshall during the Guinness Premiership match at Vicarage Road on September 27.
Eustace, who pleaded guilty before an RFU Disciplinary Panel of Christopher Quinlan (chair), Mike Curling and David Martin at the Bristol Filton Holiday Inn, is suspended until October 26. He can play again on October 27.
And Joe Maddock of Bath Rugby is free to continue playing after the citing for a dangerous tackle on Leicester Tigers' Geoff Parling during the Guinness Premiership match at the Recreation Ground on September 27 was dismissed.
Maddock pleaded not guilty before an RFU Disciplinary Panel of Rick Charles (chair), Jonathan Dance and John Doubleday at the Bristol Filton Holiday Inn.
