Gloucester coach Philippe Saint-Andre has slammed the race row that he believes is damaging the image of the game.

Although the club are likely to stand by thier hooker Olivier Azam in the wake of Newcastle's allegations that he racially abused Tongan flanker Epi Taione, the player will not take part in the Cherry and White's European tie this weekend as Saint-Andre dishing his own in-house punishment for a sending off.

RFU rules allow Azam, and Taione, who was also sent off, to continue playing until the case is heard but Saint-Andre will insist on the same punishment as that he served to two other front-row forwards last season, England prop Trevor Woodman and Moroccan hooker Jawad Djoudi.

"If any player gets a red card at Gloucester, he will not be involved until the disciplinary hearing has taken place,' he told the Daily Mail. "In Olivier's case, I will wait until the hearing as I did with Trevor and Jawad."

Saint-Andre added, "We have 12 internationals at the club from nine different countries, including Samoa, Italy, Argentina, Fiji, France, New Zealand and South Africa.

"Olivier Azam has family from Morocco. It is very strange that people do not speak about rugby but they speak about racism. It's a joke.

"I am very, very sad because what they are doing is bad for the image of rugby, for the club and for Azam.

"I spoke with him after Rob Andrew had spoken about racism. I asked Azam whether this was true and he said no, it wasn't.

"I believe Azam. We will stand by the player and we will make our position known by the end of the week.

"There were a lot of fights in the first 10 to 15 minutes but Azam was not involved in the first fight. The Newcastle players tried to intimidate him. Olivier had his nose broken but I prefer not to make any further comment."