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Gloucester, Worcester statements: Clubs respond to hearing outcome
By Liam Heagney
Both Gloucester and Worcester have issued club statements following the decision on Thursday evening by an independent Sport Resolutions panel regarding the outcome of the investigation into the late cancellation of the March 25 Gallagher Premiership match between the two sides.
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It was just five hours before the scheduled 7:45pm Friday night live TV kickoff that it was confirmed that Worcester were unable to field the necessary six front row players in their matchday 23 in order for the game to proceed.
Four weeks later, it was decided that Gloucester should be awarded a 20-0 victory and five match points from the cancelled fixture and this lifted George Skivington’s team from seventh to fifth place heading into their match on Friday at Bristol, leaving them poised just two points behind Exeter in the fourth and final semi-final playoff place.
A Gloucester statement in the wake of the outcome of the Sport Resolution hearing read: “Gloucester is pleased to receive confirmation from the independent panel and Premiership Rugby that we have been awarded a match result of 20-0 and five league points as a result of Worcester cancelling our fixture at Kingsholm on Friday, March 25.
“We are grateful to the independent panel who have been thorough in their investigations into this matter. Gloucester will continue to liaise with Premiership Rugby following the release of the full judgement to determine the next steps in regard to compensation. We look forward to now turning our attention to key fixtures ahead of us as we approach the end of the season competing in three competitions.”
Releasing only an initial verdict, Premiership Rugby explained that it would publish the full judgement when completed by the panel, hopefully within the next week. This delay informed the Worcester response to the hearing outcome. Their statement read: “Warriors respect the process and decision made by the independent panel convened by Sports Resolutions. We shall await the publication of the full reasoned decision before making further comment.”
It was Wednesday afternoon at his weekly media briefing that incoming Worcester director of rugby Steve Diamond predicted that the points split outcome from the hearing would be Gloucester four and Worcester two, but that turned out not to be case.
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