Williams v ERC

On 25 August 2009 the European Rugby Cup Appeal Committee issued its decision in respect of Harlequins player Tom Williams’ appeal in the widely reported “bloodgate” case. Tom Williams had been suspended from rugby for 12 months following his fabrication of a blood injury during the Heineken Cup quarter-final match against Leinster.  Andrew Hunter successfully represented Mr Williams in his challenge to that decision, on the grounds that the player’s previous evidence had been given under duress from the Harlequins coach Dean Richards and without independent legal advice, and that the previous decision of the Disciplinary Committee had therefore been based on inaccurate evidence.  The ERC Appeal Committee accepted that the previous decision was in error, and that Mr Williams had given substantial assistance to the ERC without which the truth of which would have been very unlikely to have been uncovered, and accordingly reduced the period of the suspension to four months.