Back suspended for four weeks

News: Neil Back was last night suspended for four weeks for punching former England team-mate Joe Worsley in the mouth during last Saturday's English Premiership championship final at Twickenham.

The ban was imposed at an RFU disciplinary hearing, chaired by Judge Jeff Blackett, at London's Bloomsbury Holiday Inn Hotel. The suspension runs until June 14th and Back was also ordered to pay £250 costs.

Clive Woodward had already left Back out of his team for next Monday's British and Irish Lions friendly game against Argentina at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

He will also miss the opening three Lions tour matches against Bay of Plenty on June 4th, Taranaki on June 8th and the New Zealand Maori side on June 11 but will be free for the game against Wellington on June 15th.

The incident occurred during the first half of Leicester's 39-14 defeat by Wasps in flanker Back's final match for his club before retiring as a player.

Back, who admitted striking an opponent at last night's hearing, escaped immediate punishment from referee Chris White for the punch which left Worsley requiring 13 stitches in his mouth but an independent citing officer decided he should face disciplinary action after studying video evidence of the incident.

Meanwhile Woodward is to be offered the chance to help Britain's Olympic team prepare for the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Sue Campbell, the chair of UK Sport, will approach Woodward after the Lions tour and ask him to help Britain get ready for China. "I would love to have him involved," said Campbell. "What I like about Clive is not only has he been there and done it, but he is still searching how to do it better."

Campbell used to teach Woodward when he was one of her students at Loughborough University and is convinced he can help turn UK Sport's £75 million investment into gold medals in Beijing. "I remember him sitting opposite me after he had come back from winning the World Cup and he said, 'I need to find three things that I can do better'," revealed Campbell.

"I thought, 'that's world-class performance, right there'. It would be brilliant to get him involved for Beijing. But I know Clive and at the moment he will be focused totally on the Lions. Nothing else will matter - he will be totally one-visioned. Perhaps after that is when I will speak to him."

Campbell believes Woodward offers the difference between victory and defeat.