Sale will have to do without the touchline advice of their chief executive and executive director of sport, Steve Diamond, after a disciplinary panel banned him for 18 weeks for abusing the World Cup referee Wayne Barnes.
Diamond, who pleaded guilty and was also fined £4,000 to be paid in 14 days, has been banned from "entering the playing enclosure, technical area, approaching match officials and communicating or attempting to communicate directly with match officials before, during and after the game on the day of the match" until 20 June.
The incident that lead to Diamond being charged with conduct likely to bring the game into disrepute occurred at London Irish on 8 January after Sale had gone down by two points following a late penalty awarded by Barnes for a scrum offence. Diamond admitted abusing the official and not only questioned the referee's decision but also his fitness and professionalism, suggesting that Barnes had arrived late for the match and appeared flustered.
"I'm concerned about the referee being absolutely right about the penalty at the scrum," Diamond said at the post-match press conference. "I'm not whingeing but if the referee is going to make his interpretations, let it be consistent. That's what we are after.
"It is hard to take when such a crucial decision is made like that. He has to be 100% right that we wheeled the scrum. He ought to come to a coaching session and see that the wheel went out of the game 10 years ago."
Last October, Diamond received a 12-week suspended touchline ban for pushing the Northampton head of fitness, Nick Johnston, during Sale's victory over the Saints at Edgeley Park the previous month. He was also fined £5,000, with 80% suspended until May 2013.
He was warned about the consequences of a repeat offence before the end of the 2012-13 season and told to take a course of media training before the end of this season.
On Wednesday night the disciplinary panel under Judge Sean Enright said: "Referees strive to do the best they can in a highly pressurised environment. Wayne Barnes is acknowledged as one of the best referees in the game. Referees are entitled to respect at all times, whether the final whistle has been blown or not."
Sale are in sixth place under Diamond after repeatedly flirting with relegation under previous management regimes.
