Sale wing Tom Arscott has been suspended by his club over an alleged leak of information to English Premiership rivals Bristol that is now being investigated by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).
Monday saw confirmation that Sale had complained to the union over the “passing of information to the opposition team” ahead of their 24-23 loss at home to Bristol on New Year’s Day.
The result was a huge boost for basement club Bristol, reviving their bid to avoid relegation with a win against another side near the bottom of the table.
Arscott is a former Bristol player and his brother, Luke, remains with the southwest club.
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond on Tuesday said that the Manchester club had suspended Tom Arscott since Jan. 4.
“We investigated it internally and we are going through a disciplinary, and under the regulations, we have to report it [to the union], so we did that yesterday,” Diamond said. “It’s now in the hands of the RFU. He is suspended.”
“I think when you sign a professional contract, team information is sacrosanct to the team’s performance and that can’t be discussed, certainly with opposition teams,” Diamond said, but did not provide details of the case.
Bristol responded by saying they were “absolutely confident” no wrongdoing had taken place and that, while the Arscott brothers met on New Year’s Eve — the night before the match — no significant information changed hands.
“We are aware of Sale contacting the RFU with regards to their complaint. We have yet to hear from RFU about this,” Bristol coach Mark Tainton said. “From what we are aware — and I stress, without any contact from the RFU on the full nature of the complaint — we are entirely comfortable that Bristol rugby have done nothing wrong.”
Neither of the brothers played in the match. Tom Arscott was not included in Sale’s 23-man squad, while Luke Arscott was an unused replacement.
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