Steve Diamond given six-week ban after Sale director of rugby found guilty of verbally abusing match official

Sale Sharks director of rugby Steve Diamond has been given a six-week touchline ban after the Rugby Football Union found him guilty of verbally abusing a match official in an Anglo-Welsh Cup match earlier this month.

The 49-year-old will serve half of the ban immediately after he pleaded guilty to a charge of "conduct prejudicial to the interests of the union and/or the game", having been reported for something he said during Sale’s 13-10 victory at Harlequins on 3 February. The other three weeks of Diamond’s ban will be suspended until the end of the 2018/19 season, and will be triggered if he falls foul of the RFU’s disciplinary panel again during that time.

Diamond was also given a £3,000 fine, half of which is required to be paid immediately and the other half suspended for the same length of time.

"The panel deprecates any abuse of match officials, regardless of the circumstances. Such behaviour is contrary to the spirit of rugby and the core values of the game and will be treated seriously by disciplinary panels,” an RFU disciplinary panel statement read late on Wednesday night.

Diamond will not be allowed to enter the playing enclosure/technical area or approach and talk to all match officials during and after the upcoming games against reigning Premiership champions Saracens, Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs, meaning he will not return to the sidelines until the visit of Worcester Warriors to the AJ Bell Stadium on 7 April.