Disgraced former Harlequins coach Dean Richards is sorry he got caught for his role in the ‘Bloodgate’ scandal which has rocked rugby union, but admits he knows what he did was wrong. The former England player ordered Tom Williams to fake a blood injury in the dying minutes of Harlequins’ Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster last season.
Williams burst a fake blood capsule in his mouth so that substituted drop-goal specialist Nick Evans could re-enter the field of play.
Former England forward Richards, after discovering Williams had insisted on having his own lip cut to cover up the fabrication, then decided to orchestrate a cover-up.
Richards was this week banned for three years by a European Rugby Cup disciplinary panel.
Harlequins were fined €300,000 and Williams had a 12-month suspension reduced to four months at Monday’s appeal hearing.
Richards said: “I am sorry I got caught but at the same time I know now, as I did at the time I resigned, that I did the wrong thing.”
“I’ve done something wrong and I’ve got to pay the price for it. At the time, you have the mistaken belief that you are doing the right thing for the club and the players to win the game.
“I’m also a very competitive person. On this occasion, I asked the physio whether he had some and, when Chris Malone came off (injured), I said I need to use blood.
“The decision was not made at that point, it was made two or three minutes after Tom Williams had gone on when, in my eyes, he wasn’t doing enough to enable us to win the game.”
“I did cheat, I knew it was wrong but I thought it was an accepted practice in rugby. I should have been stronger and not have done it. Hopefully, there will be a better system for dealing with this.
“To a point, the people who say that I have damaged the game are right, but it is ironic that the reason we went down the route in the first place was that I didn’t want to cut people.”
Richards insists he is not the only coach to make use of fake blood injuries.
“It was quite prevalent and the players felt other teams were having a material advantage by using it and they felt we were missing out,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Harlequins physiotherapist Steph Brennan has resigned from his role with the English Rugby Football Union.
Brennan, banned for two years by European Cup disciplinary chiefs following his role in ‘Bloodgate’, tendered his resignation with immediate effect.
In a statement, the RFU said: “Mr Brennan wholeheartedly wanted to apologise for any aspects of his behaviour that caused concern for the RFU and the physiotherapist profession.
“The RFU will not be disclosing any further details to do with his final departure from the organisation, as all employee information remains confidential.”
