Rugby is going mad
>> 21 July, 2009
So the ERC have banned Tom Williams from playing for 12 months and fined Harlequins 250,000 euro for the blood subbing at the Leinster match in the Heineken Cup.
I have seen various accusations that he "may have used a blood capsule", I would like to see the proof.
Meanwhile Schalk Burger gets a Yellow card and an 8 week ban for this eye gouging incident against the Lions and Bakkies Botha got two weeks for charging Adam Jones off the ball, dislocating Jones's shoulder and putting him out for months.
Harlequins are rightly limiting their comment for now.
But as Paul Rees says on The Guardian site:
Williams's one-year suspension for pretending he had a cut mouth compared to the eight months received by the Australia second row Justin Harrison, for taking cocaine and suggesting to academy players that it was something everyone did and the eight weeks received this month by two back row forwards, South Africa's Schalk Berger and Italy's Sergio Parisse, after they were found guilty of making contact with the eye of an opponent.
While Berger and Parisse injured opponents and received bans that amounted to less than nine per cent of the maximum laid down for the offence they were disciplined for, Williams received one of the longest bans in the history of the game for harming the reputation of the sport in a punishment that harked back to the amateur era in its severity.
Quins really do have to appeal this.



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