Nick De Luca's miserable 2012/13 campaign ended yesterday when the Edinburgh centre was banned for the rest of the season, writes Kevin Ferrie.

An independent RaboDirect PRO12 disciplinary committee ruled De Luca should serve a 13-week suspension following his dismissal against the Ospreys last Friday, the league announced in a statement.

De Luca, who was dropped from the Scotland team for the last match of the autumn Test series, suffered a fractured eye socket just before the key Inter-City derbies against Glasgow Warriors over the festive period.

He made his return only a fortnight ago, admitting, ahead of that match, to a sense of embarrassment at the players' contribution to the departure of Michael Bradley, their head coach and Billy McGinty, their defence coach.