Welsh handed hefty fine

London Welsh have received a €10,000 (US$13,200) fine by an independent disciplinary committee on foot of a misconduct complaint brought against the club by ERC with regard to Tyson Keats.

The club were reported for selecting the New Zealand-born scrumhalf for the Challenge Cup Round One match against Stade Francais on October 13, 2012 when Keats was not properly registered with ERC as a member of the club's tournament squad, and was therefore an ineligible player.

ERC awaited the conclusion of a Rugby Football Union (RFU) disciplinary hearing involving London Welsh, as well as London Welsh's subsequent appeal against the RFU decision, before beginning its own investigation into Keats's registration for the 2012/13 Challenge Cup.

After considering written submissions, the independent disciplinary committee, made up of Antony Davies (England), Roger Morris (Wales) and Rod McKenzie (Scotland), determined that London Welsh were guilty of misconduct in that they had breached the Challenge Cup player registration rules.

The committee imposed a fine of €10,000 (US$13,200) and also ordered that London Welsh pay €1,000 (US$1,320) towards the legal costs of processing the misconduct complaint.

The club were in March handed a five-point deduction, with an additional five-point deduction suspended until the end of the 2013-14 season, and fined £15,000 (US$22,534) for fielding Keats in 10 Premiership matches without the player holding the correct registration.

Then London Welsh team manager Mike Scott was hit with a lifetime ban from any involvement in Rugby Union for providing false information over Keats’ registration of Kiwi scrumhalf Tyson Keats.

Scott was said to have supplied the RFU with a fake copy of a UK passport to seal Keats's signing after the player's ancestry visa application was turned down last September.

Keats knew nothing about the deception.