Former South Africa international Brendan Venter has been banned from the sidelines for 14 weeks in the English rugby premiership after being found guilty of making provocative or inappropriate gestures to spectators.

The Rugby Football Union found Venter, the Saracens director of rugby, guilty of conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game for an incident involving spectators during a match against Leicester two weeks ago.

He will be allowed to keep coaching Saracens but must not have any direct or indirect contact with his team or match officials on game day, an RFU disciplinary panel ruled Tuesday.

Venter, part of South Africa’s World Cup-winning squad in 1995, had been charged with pushing a female spectator and of misconduct.

“The panel dismissed the charge of pushing a female supporter.

Although clearly there may have been contact between the two it was accidental,” panel chairman Jeff Blackett said. “We found Dr.Venter guilty of the second charge.

“We were disappointed that he didn’t understand the seriousness of what occurred and his behavior was clearly unacceptable in provoking a reaction from the Leicester supporters which required steward intervention and, even after that intervention, he continued making provocative/inappropriate gestures.” Saracens chief executive Ed Griffiths said the club would appeal the ban.