Harlequins will not face further sanctions over the four cases of fake blood substitutions in league matches they committed before being rumbled following last season's Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster.
A disciplinary panel last week banned their former director of rugby Dean Richards for three years after he admitted ordering a blood capsule to be used to simulate a mouth injury to the wing Tom Williams against Leinster to facilitate the return of a specialist goal-kicker, Nick Evans. The physiotherapist, Steph Brennan, who treated Williams on the field, was suspended for two years and has now resigned from his position with England. Williams was banned for four months and Quins were fined £260,000.
Richards admitted to the panel that he had pulled the stunt in four league matches after joining Quins in 2005, without specifying them, and his ban reflected the serial nature of his offending. European Rugby Cup Ltd will submit Richards's confession to the Rugby Football Union but Twickenham officials have already met and concluded nothing would be gained in initiating what would be a lengthy inquiry that would prompt further media speculation given that the principal culprits are already serving long-term bans.
Instead, it will wait for the publication of the panel's judgment, which is expected by the end of the week, and then decide on a range of preventative measures to ensure there is no repeat of a scandal that has generated worldwide publicity. Richards maintained that the fake blood scam only worked in one league match, believed to be a first division encounter three seasons ago.
The Premier Rugby chief executive, Mark McCafferty, argued that nothing would be gained in investigating incidents that may have occurred four years ago. "It is in the game's best interests to draw a line under this affair, learn the lessons from it and make sure that nothing like this ever happens again," he said.
Premier Rugby has reacted to the scandal by drawing up a proposal for its shareholders to consider that opposition doctors be allowed to examine players who leave the field with blood injuries, but the RFU will consider whether to enforce the International Rugby Board recommendation that all matches are policed by match commissioners and independent doctors.
As the RFU is in charge of governance, it could impose the measures on the Premiership. "We have to recognise the damage that has been done," said the RFU management board chairman, Martyn Thomas, on BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday. "Spectator and public confidence have to be restored and there is no place for theatrical devices: it's not Hamlet, it's rugby."
An independent doctor would not just check on blood injuries but would also have the right to examine players who have left the field injured. Harlequins admitted at last week's hearing that when Evans limped off early in the second half against Leinster they originally told the fifth official the fly-half was injured, which would not have allowed him to return to the field, only to change it immediately to a tactical substitution, paving the way for his return in the event of a blood change.
The Premiership, in partnership with the RFU, is introducing a rule aimed at lessening the number of matches blighted by uncontested scrums. Sides will have an extra prop replacement and if they run out of specialist front rowers, they will have to carry on with 14 men.
The RFU, and France, want the change to be implemented in the Heineken Cup, but Wales, Scotland and Ireland are opposed on the grounds of cost, even though teams are obliged to name a minimum number of front row forwards in their registered squads. Wales are also against the move being written into in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
