In his second column on the Premiership, HoR2 contributor Felix McCabe looks at the fall and rise of Harlequins over the past few seasons
With Harlequins set to embark on their first Premiership season as defending champions, I take a look back at their colourful past. Speaking of course of a nice shade of red; blood red to be specific.
April 12th is remembered for many things throughout history: from Harry Truman being sworn in as the 33rd President of the United States to Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man to orbit the earth. For rugby fans, April 12th 2009, will be remembered as the day Quins rugby lost their integrity.
It was the Heineken Cup quarter-final and Quins were trailing Leinster 6-5 with five minutes left to play. Winger Tom Williams, seemingly suffering a blood injury, was to make way for goalkicker Nick Evans; who had been taken off earlier in the game due to injury.
An investigation by the RFU and ERC showed that Williams faked the blood injury, using a blood capsule, to facilitate the tactical substitution of Evans. This could have proved the deciding factor of the match had the goalkicker landed a last minute dropgoal attempt as he had done in the group stages against Stade Français.
The RFU acted immediately to punish those who threatened to bring the sport into disrepute. Tom Williams was banned from the game for 12 months for his part, but an appeal reduced his sentence to 4 months.
Director of Rugby, Dean Richards was found to have orchestrated the whole thing and was banned for three years; a ruling that the IRB applied across rugby union worldwide.
The club doctor, Wendy Chapman, was suspended by the General Medical Council for cutting Williams lip to hide the use of the blood capsule.
The club was also fined £260,000 and narrowly avoided being banned from future ERC competitions.
With Conor O'Shea at the helm, Harlequins regrouped and in three years have become a force to be reckoned with in, both the English and, European game. This past season they lifted the Aviva Premiership trophy for the first time after a tremendous performance all year.
O'Shea paid homage to his captain, Chris Robshaw, for the work him and his boys had put in all year. Putting all the critics in their place and finally burying the Bloodgate scandal of 2009.
Conor O'Shea also congratulated Tom Williams, who's first half try saw Quins take an early lead in the final. Just desserts to his own critics after the scandal.
Dean Richards has since served his time (almost) and will return to the game in August with the newly relegated Newcastle Falcons. Speaking about his move to Newcastle, Richards said
“I had agreed to join Harlequins before they got relegated seven years ago, and on the night they went down their chief executive Mark Evans rang me up and asked if I was still interested. I said of course I was – I had signed a contract and always intended to honour that – and it is the same at Newcastle. The whole relegation thing didn't really faze me too much”
Richards must use this year in the Championship as preparation for the promotion to the Premiership. It's a time to try new things with the Falcons, blood some young players and come back to the Premiership stronger than ever.
Both gone their separate ways, Harlequins and Dean Richards have left the past behind them. Now onto bigger and better things, they will be looking for greater success and a future filled with cheat-free, top flight rugby.
Felix (@lightningrust): Blogger, eternal student of business & law, sunshine rugby player with a passion for music and fitness. Coffee is essential. Leinster fan and Irish proud.
