England international Delon Armitage was described as “an habitual offender” with “an appalling disciplinary record” yesterday in the written judgement of his latest appearance before rugby union disciplinary chiefs.

A complaint regarding an on-pitch incident — following his team’s European Champions Cup defeat against Leicester earlier this month — was dismissed by an independent disciplinary panel but he was found guilty of misconduct following a post-match episode with fans at the ground and banned for 12 weeks.

In its judgement the committee said: “We considered the player’s previous record and concluded that he is an habitual offender against the laws of the game, and one for whom there needs to be a deterrent to combat a clear pattern of offending, both on and off the field.”