BaaBaas bad boys banned
DISCIPLINARY NEWS: Former England captain Chris Robshaw was among 13 Barbarians players suspended on Tuesday after breaching coronavirus protocols.
Robshaw was banned for four weeks by the Rugby Football Union, following incidents while on duty with the Barbarians.
His Barbarians teammates Alex Lewington, Fergus McFadden, Juan Pablo Socino, Richard Wigglesworth and Jackson Wray were also given four-week suspensions.
All of that group except McFadden have been fined two weeks’ wages.
Robshaw, Lewington, Wray and Wigglesworth will do 50 hours of unpaid rugby community work, while that figure is 60 hours for McFadden and Socino.
The Barbarians’ non-cap international against England at Twickenham in October was canceled as a result of the two virus breaches.
Footage emerged on social media of a large group of Barbarians players drinking alcohol at the Running Horse pub in Mayfair in central London.
It emerged that some of those who broke Covid-19 regulations provided false statements during the RFU’s investigation.
Calum Clark, Sean Maitland and Tim Swinson all received a four-week ban, three of which are suspended.
Tom de Glanville, Joel Kpoku and Manu Vunipola were given three-week suspensions and Simon Kerrod got a two-week ban.
A number of players, including Robshaw and Wigglesworth, have since apologised and all the players accepted the charges.
In total, the 13 players have been banned for 85 weeks, with 44 weeks suspended subject to conditions being met and 41 weeks of bans to be taken concurrently.
The players have been fined a total of 18.5 weeks’ salary and ordered to undertake a total of 630 hours of community service.
“The sanctions reflect the seriousness of the charges which include behaving in a way that ignored what the public at large and the Rugby community were complying with and deliberately compromising an investigation being carried out by the RFU as swiftly as the circumstances demanded,” an RFU statement said.
THAT Barbarians team social featuring, Chris Robshaw, Sean Maitland and a whole lotta 🍻 pic.twitter.com/OJhN3sDsba
— Edward Barker (@EdwardB24376757) October 24, 2020
