Former Harlequins physiotherapist Steph Brennan has resigned from his role with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) with “immediate effect,” the English governing body announced yesterday.
Brennan was earlier banned for two years by European Rugby Cup (ERC) disciplinary chiefs for his role in the fake blood scandal that led to the resignation of Harlequins’ director of rugby Dean Richards.
Former England No. 8 Richards, banned for three years, and Brennan were punished on Monday following an incident in which Harlequins wing Tom Williams used fake blood during a home European Cup quarter-final against eventual champions Leinster on April 12 to create the appearance of a cut in his mouth in order to allow a substitute onto the field.
Monday’s hearing also revealed that there had been four previous occasions in non-ERC tournaments when Richards and Brennan, banned from European rugby for two years, had fabricated a wound or blood injury.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) subsequently confirmed that Richards and Brennan’s ERC bans would be applied worldwide under rugby union’s disciplinary doctrine of “universality.”
The RFU said: “Steph Brennan has tendered his resignation which the RFU has accepted. Mr Brennan has left the RFU with immediate effect. Mr Brennan wholeheartedly wanted to apologize for any aspects of his behavior that caused concern for the RFU and the physiotherapist profession.”
Richards and club medical staff were all cleared of an initial misconduct charge by a disciplinary panel looking into Williams’ blood injury in a match Irish province Leinster won 6-5 at Quins’ Twickenham Stoop ground.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but