Delon Armitage has been suspended from rugby for a fourth time in 11 months, putting his England squad place in jeopardy. The London Irish full-back will be out until 9 December after being found guilty of two counts of dangerous play in a match against Bath last month. He is therefore unavailable for his club's first two Heineken Cup matches.

A Rugby Football Union panel, headed by Jeff Blackett, ruled that Armitage should be banned for five weeks for a high tackle on the Bath wing Tom Biggs, with a three-week suspension for kneeing the lock Dave Attwood to run concurrently. The 27-year-old cannot afford any further indiscretions, as his serial offending is increasingly overshadowing his considerable talents.

Armitage had pledged to stay out of trouble after he received an eight-week ban for pushing a doping control officer after a game against Bath in January. He subsequently incurred a three-week ban for striking the Northampton fly-half Stephen Myler, and then missed the World Cup quarter-final defeat by France following a high tackle on Scotland's Chris Paterson.

Blackett said: "We accept that both these incidents were reckless and not malicious. However, in relation to the dangerous tackle on Tom Biggs there was the potential for significant injury and we believe that it was a mid-range entry level offence of six weeks. We increased it to eight because of concerns raised by the IRB about injuries caused by dangerous tackles and because of his poor disciplinary record.

"We then reduced the sanction to five weeks because of his guilty plea, his contrition and the impressive way he conducted himself at the hearing. In relation to the strike to which he also pleaded guilty, we decided that this was a low-end entry offence and for that we imposed a three-week suspension. Delon has unfortunately had several disciplinary issues this year and it is a shame that he once again finds himself not playing. However, we hope that he will learn from these events and we look forward to him resuming the game he quite clearly feels very passionate about."

His charge sheet is now rivalling that of Gloucester's Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, the centre who was banned for three weeks this week after being found guilty of two of three charges of "conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game", relating to comments made on his Twitter account. The 31-year-old Samoan is still waiting to discover if the verdict will trigger the six-month suspended sentence that was handed down by the International Rugby Board following his criticisms of theWelsh referee Nigel Owens during the World Cup.

The Cherry and Whites have enjoyed some respite, however: the front-rows Nick Wood and Darren Dawidiuk have had their citings for dangerous tackles in the recent match against Saracens dismissed, due to a procedural error by the RFU.

Coincidentally, the IRB has announced that it is considering altering its own disciplinary procedures after finding itself unable to investigate an allegation of foul play during last month's World Cup final. Video evidence released three days after the All Blacks' 8-7 win appeared to support claims that the France centre Aurélien Rougerie had made contact with the eye or eye area of the New Zealand captain, Richie McCaw.

No citing can be made after 36 hours have elapsed but the IRB says it is considering whether to extend that time-frame, to allow for evidence emerging. The incident occurred in the 77th minute of the final, when McCaw was lying on the ground. No complaints were lodged by New Zealand at the time. "I got poked in the eye or something," said McCaw. "I don't know if it was intentional."

Glasgow have received a heavy blow ahead of this weekend's first round of European fixtures with the announcement of Richie Gray's decision to sign a three-year deal with Sale. The Scotland lock will not join the Sharks until June but his departure continues an exodus of high-profile players from the Warriors.

The 22-year-old will follow a path that has been trodden by the internationals Dan Parks, Kelly Brown, Richie Vernon and Max Evans, to the dismay of the Warriors' chief executive, Kenny Baillie.

"We're clearly very disappointed that Richie has decided to move on at the end of the season," Baillie said. "We'll be sad to see him go, but it's important to emphasise that Glasgow Warriors are far from a one-man team, and Richie's departure will not affect our and Scottish Rugby's commitment to ensuring the club continues to grow on and off the field."

Mark Dodson, the chief executive of Scottish Rugby, also did his best to pacify supporters of professional rugby north of the border. "There's naturally disappointment on our side because we're committed to keeping our top players in Scotland and Richie comes into that category. I'd like to reassure supporters of the professional teams that we will be doing everything in our power to support our coaches in securing the leading players at both Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh on long-term contracts.

The reality, though, is that Scotland's leading players are opting to look elsewhere. Gray described it as "the toughest decision I've ever had to make" but said his motives were rugby-related. "This isn't about money: I've always been keen to test myself in England, and I feel this is a good opportunity to do so." Sale said they had agreed contractual terms with another international forward.

Munster, who kick off their Heineken Cup programme at home to Northampton on Saturday, will be without their Irish wing Keith Earls for up to six weeks, thanks to a knee injury. Earls suffered medial ligament damage in the first minute of Friday's RaboDirect Pro12 defeat by Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.

The Tri-Nations has been rebranded as The Rugby Championship, to reflect the admission of Argentina from next year. New Zealand and Australia will launch the new-look tournament in Sydney on 18 August before South Africa host the Pumas later that same day. Each nation will play six Tests; Australia's home game against Argentina is set to be staged on the Gold Coast.

Test rugby union will also be played at an unfamiliar venue when the All Blacks host Ireland in June. Following the earthquake damage to the AMI Stadium in Christchurch, the match will be played at the 18,000 capacity Rugby League Park in the city. Ireland will also play Tests in Auckland and Hamilton.