Chiefs' prop banned

Two weeks off for wayward Williams

Exeter Chiefs and England player Harry Williams is in the doghouse. He's been being banned from playing for a fortnight after joining in a mass brawl as his team thrashed Saracens - in more ways that one as it turns out.

The hairy prop, normally a strong adherent to fair play having hardly seen the inside of a sin bin, unexpectedly found himself in one in the festive grudge game, before being later replaced. And it got worse for him.

Top of the table Chiefs were facing bottom-of-the-table, let's-not-rub-it-in Sarries for the first time since the tainted Londoners were docked 35 points and fined more than £5 million pounds for covering up how much they were paying players above the salary cap.

Tempers had been kept under control until the last 13 minutes of the match, in which Saracens had notched up no points. Nil. Zilch. Not a sausage. So when push came to shove, and players started pushing and shoving (scrum half Nic White had been tipped over by a Saracens player and didn't take kindly to it), the six feet four, twenty stone monolith saw red, nipping off the bench to offer opposing player some words of advice and possibly a bit more. The player had already been sent off and brought back, before being sent off again - this time with a red card when he was already out of the match having failed a head injury assessment. All very complex.

The red card that caused him to appear in front of the beak at the RFU on Wednesday. Williams accepted the charge of "acts contrary to good sportsmanship" breaching World Rugby Law 9.27 and now won't be available to face London Irish in the Premiership and Glasgow in the European Challenge Cup.

Judicial officer Richard Whittam QC said: "In the 76th minute [Williams] left the technical area, which is set back from the pitch, came forward, rounded the hoardings that surround the pitch and advanced over 10 metre deliberately to enter a melee that had already started."

Great use of the word 'melee'. It was, of course, a massive scrap, with just about all of the players from both sides getting involved. Mr Whittam did think Williams' action was at the low-end of the scale of naughtiness. He didn't strike anyone and no one was injured as a result of his actions. He apologised to the referee immediately after the match and accepted the charge ahead of the meeting. The usual four week ban was cut to two weeks.

Saracens went on to be awarded a penalty try, with the losers therefore attracting a losing bonus point, leaving them on minus 12.

In a separate development, hours before the judgement, Saracens chairman Nigel Wray, whose family owns a large stake in East Devon country hotel the Deer Park, quit as Saracens chairman.