The Northampton wing Ben Cohen was yesterday pulled out of the England squad to face the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday week after reaching his year's quota of 32 matches. He will not be able to play again until next September unless his club, or country, gains special dispensation from England Rugby Ltd.
ERL decreed at the start of the season that leading players would not play more than 32 matches in a 12-month period, with a maximum of 10 for England. Cohen made his 33rd start of the season for Northampton against Newcastle last Saturday though one of his appearances did not count in the quota as he was substituted at half-time.
Northampton said yesterday that Cohen would not play in the Zurich Championship play-off quarter-final at London Irish on Sunday but that they would consider applying for dispensation to play the 23-year-old if they won through to the semi-final.
More bizarrely, the England manager Clive Woodward would have to approach ERL if he wanted to take Cohen on next month's tour to Argentina when England will be short of wings, with Dan Luger and Iain Balshaw ruled out through injury while Austin Healey and Jason Robinson are being given the summer off.
Two weeks ago, Woodward announced a 27-strong squad for the match against the Barbarians but he named a revised 23 yesterday with 12 players originally chosen left out.
The Wales coach Steve Hansen was also forced to make changes to his squad yesterday. Neath's Essex-born centre James Storey, who turned down the chance to play for Wales A two years ago after discovering that his grandmother had been born two miles away from the Welsh border near Ross-on-Wye, and the Cardiff scrum-half Ryan Powell replace the injured Dafydd James and Gareth Cooper respectively for next month's two-Test tour to South Africa. Storey qualifies for Wales on the grounds of residency from June 1.
The 50-Test South Africa full-back Percy Montgomery has refused to take part in trials this Sunday and has told his agent to speak to clubs in Europe on his behalf while another Springbok full-back, Thinus Delport, has been holding talks with Gloucester.
Harlequins have offered a new one-year contract to their captain David Wilson. The former Australia flanker has not played since he damaged knee ligaments a year ago.
The Bristol prop Julian White and the Leicester back-rower Adam Balding have been banned for 21 days and 14 days respectively after being sent off in the Premiership match at the Memorial Stadium earlier this month for fighting but a citing charge against the Bristol fly-half Felipe Contepomi for foul play was thrown out by a Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel yesterday.
Nigel Wray is giving up control of Saracens to bring in five new board members. Wray, who has ploughed some £12m into the club, is releasing nearly 50% of his shares to broaden the club's financial base and provide an extra £3.5m.
