ERC probe finds Richards central to fake blood scandal

Former Harlequins rugby director Dean Richards has been described as central to the blood cheating scandal that shamed his club.

Quins winger Tom Williams faked a blood injury to allow a substitution to be made in last April's European Cup quarter-final against Leinster.

He was given a fake blood capsule in an attempt to get goal kicker Nick Evans, who had earlier left the field injured, back into the action.

The Premiership club were hit with a 260,000 pounds (295,000 euros) fine, while Richards was forced to resign after being banned from rugby for three years and Williams was also given a four-month ban.

Now Richards, 46, has come under fire again as he was strongly criticised Wednesday in a written judgement of his European Rugby Cup (ERC) appeal hearing.

The former England star's role in the controversy is laid bare in a damning judgement that runs to almost 100 pages and could leave his reputation in tatters.

Details of Williams' written judgement at the appeal were released last week, and further documentation regarding evidence given by Richards and former physiotherapist Steph Brennan, who was also forced to resign, has now been published.

In their judgement, the appeal committee said: "Mr Richards was the directing mind and had central control over everything that happened in relation to the fabrication of the blood injury on the pitch, and the cover-up in the days after the match.

"The only aspect of the matter in which the appeal committee determined he did not have direct involvement was the alleged cutting of Mr Williams' lip by Dr (Wendy) Chapman.

"It was Mr Richards who had instigated and directed arrangements which enabled the fabrication of blood injuries as and when that was convenient and would assist the club during matches.

"In one of the highest profile matches in which the club had ever been involved, he was prepared to try to cheat Leinster out of a victory by bringing on a player at a crucial stage in the match when that player was not entitled to return to the field of play.

"He was quite disinterested in the consideration that by acting the way he did the club which deserved to win the match might be deprived of its victory.

"He had long since recruited Mr Brennan as his willing lieutenant in such activities, and in identifying Mr Williams as the person who would fake the blood injury he had selected a player who he thought could be suborned into cheating.

"His (Richards) was the dominant personality and influence on affairs.

"He instigated the cover-up to the extent of requiring Mr Brennan to fabricate statements and then refining the fabrications to ensure that all statements were consistent.

"We considered the primary interest of Mr Richards was in preventing his own role in events being discovered."

The only bright spot for Quins is they avoided expulsion from the European Cup after ERC ruled that there was "no reason to interfere with the participation of Harlequins in the 2009-10 European Cup".

However, the appeal committee judgement leaves no doubt that Richards had encouraged others to deliberately mislead the investigating bodies and ERC will meet again next week to consider the possibility of further action against individuals at Quins.

"Mr Richards arranged matters so that those who were charged with misconduct complaints would lie to the legal team and would then lie to the disciplinary hearing," the statement continued.

"Mr Richards was by far and away the most experienced and senior individual involved.

"It was open to him at any stage to have said that 'enough is enough' and that the reputation of rugby and Harlequins had been sufficiently damaged.

"If he had admitted at any stage prior to the conclusion of the disciplinary hearing the truth of what had happened then the damage to individuals, the club and the game of rugby union would have been very much reduced."

The RFU late announced they would take no further action until the ERC had made its final decisions.

"We have now received all the written decisions from European Rugby Cup Ltd relating to the conduct of Harlequins, its officials and Tom Williams on April 12," the RFU statement said.

"We will review that documentation thoroughly. However, until a final decision by ERC on any more action they may take in this matter the jurisdiction lies with them and we are not in a position to take any further steps."