The Ospreys have been fined £100,000 (€117,000) and will be deducted four points for the 20101-2011 Magners League season after failing to fulfil their Round 11 match away to Ulster on Friday Match 19th.
A Celtic Rugby disciplinary panel met in Glasgow yesterday to hear a misconduct complaint against the Welsh side under the Magners League tournament rules 2009/10.
The Ravenhill clash was postponed after the Welsh side claimed they would have been without five frontrow players and did not have sufficient cover for a game, which was originally postponed in January due to bad weather.
The Ulster match eventually took place on April 13th, with Ospreys winning 38-27.
The disciplinary panel found the Ospreys breached the tournament rules and consequently their actions amounted to misconduct and imposed the sanctions.
Ospreys, who host Glasgow in a Magners League semi-final tomorrow night, have the right of appeal.
“We will now await the full written judgement before making a decision whether to appeal against the verdict,” said an Ospreys spokesperson.
The fine and points deduction continues a testing season for the side. They were twice investigated by European Rugby Cup, who organise the Heineken Cup, being fined for briefly having 16 players on the pitch in their crucial Heineken pool game against Leicester at the Liberty Stadium in January.
They also faced a complaint — and were subsequently cleared — that their South African scrumhalf Ricky Januarie was not eligible for this season’s Heineken Cup due to the length of his loan deal from Super 14 team the Stormers.