Cockerill given month ban for abusing referee

Leicester, the English champions, will have to play their next four games, two of them major Heineken Cup contests with French club Clermont Auvergne, without match-day input from head coach Richard Cockerill.

The former hooker has been given a month's ban from all "live" activity – including coaching juniors right down to the under-sevens – after admitting verbally abusing the referee Tim Wigglesworth and his assistants during a game with Newport Gwent Dragons a fortnight ago.

Cockerill, who caused a furore as a player when he trespassed on the All Blacks' haka before a Test match, was also fined £2,000 by a Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel. Earlier this week, he said: "You can't do those sorts of things. I have apologised to those concerned and it won't happen again."