Heineken Cup - Quins face misconduct charge

Eurosport - Tue, 12 May 09:12:00 2009

Harlequins have been hit by a misconduct complaint following an incident during their Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat against Leinster last month.

Tom Williams - Harlequins - 0

And the Guinness Premiership club now face a disciplinary hearing that could result in them being fined or even suffer a possible points deduction.

Roger O'Connor, European Rugby Cup's disciplinary officer, launched an initial investigation into circumstances surrounding the second-half blood substitution of Quins replacement Tom Williams and fly-half Nick Evans' resulting return to the playing field.

New Zealander Evans had limped off in the 47th minute, before his replacement Chris Malone was then helped off hurt.

Evans though, reappeared after Williams departed late in the game, with television footage appearing to show Williams winking as he left.

Evans, Harlequins' principal kicker, rifled a late drop-goal attempt wide as Quins bowed out of Europe, beaten 6-5 at the Twickenham Stoop.

O'Connor's probe included gathering statements from match officials, the two teams involved and a review of broadcast footage from the game.

He has now made his decision that the matter should go further, and will present the case against Quins.

A disciplinary committee will be convened on a date yet to be announced.

PA Sport / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 9 of 9

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  1. taught this was over. silly if he did wink. cant­ understand that. fine them but lets forget this.

    From chriswhitakerisarugbygod, on Tue 12 May 7:04AM

  2. the fact remains that the club had contrived to cheat­ the public and the game, thro a pre-meditated act. Dont­ underestimate what went on

    From jaynewaite, on Tue 12 May 5:32AM

  3. cheers Irish. I thought they'd be deducting points­ from this season (which would be a waste of time). If­ they take HC points off them next year then it works.­ They cant take premiership points, and as richard B­ says, how do you ban a player when it was a club­ decision? I still think the timing stinks

    From Ads A, on Tue 12 May 5:25AM

  4. I fort that williams went off coz he had blood down his­ face didnt he???

    From armish12, on Tue 12 May 5:20AM

  5. its not the first time this has happened this season­ the ospreys did it quite legally at the start of­ november and so did leister
    and its not a plyers fault­ he was just doing what he is told to do

    From RICHARD B, on Tue 12 May 4:54AM

  6. The punishment should fit the crime, they should­ forfeit their place in next years Heineken Cup.­ Harlequins and the match officials will know why !­ !

    from, Spes

    From jaynewaite, on Tue 12 May 4:31AM

  7. Im not entirly convinced it was fake though... Dean­ Richards would surely want to keep a a fit player on­ the field than choose to decide to put a clearly­ injured and struggling player. Just a thought

    From bmuirboy, on Tue 12 May 3:58AM

  8. How is it a waste of time? Any bans or punishments will­ be carried over into next season.

    From Irish, on Tue 12 May 1:23AM

  9. Points deduction? from where exactly? If its­ premiership points then its too late for that to make­ any difference, and anyway the offence occured in the­ HC. If its HC points then it'll hardly be enough to­ stop them qualifying for it next year, nor should it.­ There was plenty of time to impose a punishment in­ terms of (maybe)a ban for the players involved when it­ would have actually disadvantaged the quins in the­ premiership. To bring it up now is a complete waste of­ time and wont discourage anyone from faking blood­ injuries.

    From Ads A, on Tue 12 May 12:21AM
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