Dean Richards banned from coaching* for 3 years

[MarkS]

blimey thats a long one.

probably serves him right for one of the worst acts of bending the laws the game of rugby has seen...
Tom Williams ban reduced to 4, again i think that seems fair.

*coaching in European Cup but who would take on a coach that cannot coach if they get into the euro cup.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Don't follow rugby that much so not sure of what he's done etc

 

[Imurg]

Its the fake blood rap. Something about a player feigning injury to get another player on or something like that.

You'd have thought that Deano would have had a bit more sense than that.

I guess it shows just how much money has leeched into the sport - cheating becomes another option to make sure you win.

 

[USER1999]

Apparently they took four similar events into consideration, so he has been cheating for a while. Rugby does not need cheats like him. Good ridance.

 

[thegogg]

Murph

I absolutly agree with you. I played the game for 25 years and never came across anything anywhere near this kind of cheating. IMO he should have been given a life ban and the club banned from playing in Europe for at least 3 years. Harsh but fair!

 

[julsk10]

how did they actually fake the blood injury, i have seen it on Tv and looks pretty realistic to me.

 

[thegogg]

The player was given a vile of theatrical blood to put in his sock then when he was tackled and released the ball he slipped it into his mouth and bit it! Cheating ba***rd!

 

[julsk10]

Unbelievable! how long did player get banned for. Is this the first time this has happened in rugby or the first time someone has been caught???

 

[USER1999]

It is the first time someone has been caught.

The player got 1 year ban, reduced to 4 months after appeal, when he told the truth, and ratted on everyone else involved, as he should have done from the off.

 

[thegogg]

Unfortunalty since the advent of professionalism into rugby you now get a lot of gamesmanship (cheating) coming in such as the uncontested scrums taken by the Springbok when they were getting stuffed by the Welsh front row for the Lions in the second test, or the sinical taking out of Brian O'Drisoll by the All Blacks in the first test 4 years ago!

In the olden days you were only allowed to have a player replaced after the player was deemed unable to carry on after being examined by a doctor.... Ah, those were the days.

 

[toonarmy]

If Quins were the only ones guilty of this, I would agree but they are not. To villify Richards in this way seems a bit dodgy to me and are the ERC now going to look back at all the times a prop has developed a mystery injury when a team is getting mullered at the scrum so you end up with uncontested scrums?

Richards is not the only one guilty of this but will this get it out of the game?

 

[USER1999]

Hopefully, yes.

 

[MarkS]

as i understand it this is the fourth time deano and quins have been involved in such acts - hence the reason he has been banned for so long.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Quins use to be the byword for skullduggery even when the game was purely amateur. Its sad to see such an estbalished figure in the game reduce to that level though and has been deservedly punished

 

[rgs]

The obvious solution is to allow unlimited subs from a subs bench of 7 players, then ther would be not need for this behaviour.

 

[MarkS]

and ensure that 3 of them MUST be front row players - i hate pre-determined uncontested scrums...

 

[rgs]

I see the IRB have made some moves to rectify the uncontested scrums.
An alteration to Law 3 governing the number of replacements permitted in a match came into effect on July 28, 2009 and applies to the Game globally. The alteration allows National Unions with jurisdiction over matches in their territory the option of allowing up to eight named replacements in a match day squad. This will also operate for cross-border club or provincial competitions with the agreement of the respective Unions involved.

If a Union allows the naming of 23 players in a match day squad for any domestic competition, there must be a minimum of three specialist front row players within the named eight replacements comprising two props and a hooker.

Once all front row replacements have been utilised, and there is a further front row injury, and no fit front row player is available from the original starting team or replacement bench, the injured player will leave the field but may not be replaced. This is a change to the existing Laws and ensures, in playing with 14 men, that a team going to uncontested scrums does not gain an advantage.