Quins face a long and anxious wait

RUGBY NEWS

HARLEQUINS MAY start their season unsure whether they will be allowed to take part in the Heineken Cup. A date for the reopening of the “bloodgate” inquiry into the faking of an injury during last season’s quarter-final with Leinster will be announced this week, possibly today.

Even if the judicial panel of the European Rugby Cup (ERC), which runs the competition, meets within a fortnight, as planned, it will be pushed to come up with a revised judgment before Harlequins are due to meet Wasps at Twickenham on September 5th.

After sitting for three days during the first hearing, the panel then took more than two weeks before releasing its judgment to the club and to Tom Williams, the winger banned for 12 months.

It is believed the evidence given by Williams, Dean Richards and two members of the medical staff was strictly limited, whereas this time Williams, supported by the players’ union, the PRA, is appealing the ban.

Neither the club nor the ERC was speaking yesterday, but sources say that if Williams wants his ban reduced, he needs to be more forthcoming about the events leading up to the swap with Nick Evans and the alleged fabrication of a mouth injury.

Should he lay the blame elsewhere, his evidence could be used by the ERC’s disciplinary officer, Roger O’Connor, against Richards, who resigned as director of rugby on Saturday, the club doctor, Wendy Chapman, and Steph Brennan, the physiotherapist.

O’Connor is also unhappy about the €250,000 fine, half of which was suspended, levied against the club. The panel has the power to increase penalties as well as lower them, so expulsion from the Heineken Cup is possible.

Another branch of rugby administrators will also rule today on whether South Africa brought the game into disrepute during the third Lions Test by wearing armbands protesting against a ban handed out to their lock, Bakkies Botha.

Botha was banned for two weeks for dangerous play in an incident in which Wales prop Adam Jones dislocated a shoulder.

A failed appeal sparked the protest at a time when the rest of the rugby-playing world was still shocked by Schalk Burger escaping with an eight-week ban for eye-gouging.

Burger’s suspension ends before the Springboks play Australia in Perth, and yesterday, while South African officials were giving evidence to the IRB panel in Dublin, the loose forward was included in the 27-man squad for the game on August 29th.

Meanwhile, Australia’s captain, Stirling Mortlock, will have scans on his injured left knee today to determine his immediate future.

Dan Carter has been recalled to the All Blacks squad for the remainder of the Tri-Nations after recovering from an Achilles’ injury, New Zealand Rugby Union said yesterday.

The outhalf had played a club game and two rounds of the provincial New Zealand Cup competition, and was ready to return to the top-flight, All Blacks coach Graham Henry said.

“He is a key member of the All Blacks, has recovered well from his injury and has made a great return to rugby so now is the right time to bring him back into the squad,” Henry said.

Guardian Service