Bloodgate on minds as Harlequins welcome back Leinster for first time

It is Harlequins versus Leinster at the Stoop on Sunday. That billing should ring a bell for anyone even vaguely acquainted with rugby. Indeed, you would forgive those at Harlequins if they subsided into a fit of twitching at the mere mention of it.

For those not even vaguely acquainted with rugby, the word “Bloodgate” should complete the circuit. The last time these two met – at The Stoop, on a Sunday – it was in a Heineken Cup quarter-final in April 2009. Nick Evans, fly-half on the day, as he will be this time, has described it as one of the two games in his career he refuses to watch again. The other was the 2007 World Cup quarter-final that traumatised his homeland, New Zealand. Both games were subjected to agonising autopsies, with Bloodgate escalating via cover-ups and investigations into one of the most notorious scandals in rugby.

“It was a really tough time at the club,” says Danny Care, Harlequins’ scrum-half that day. “There was a lot of stuff written about us and people lost their jobs as a consequence.”

Evans, whose drop goal had won Harlequins an epic battle at the same ground against Stade Français a few months earlier, was forced off the field in the 47th minute of that game, with Quins trailing 6-0. Chris Malone replaced him but was unable to convert a Quins try with 15 minutes left, leaving the home side behind by one. Five minutes after that he, too, was injured, meaning Quins had no one left with the nerve or aptitude to kick them a winning goal.

Everyone at the time knew something odd was happening when Evans was spotted warming up on an exercise bike. It appeared they were intent on bringing him back on. But how? Apart from the fact he could barely walk, substituted players could return to the field only in the event of a blood injury. As if by magic, Tom Williams appeared to pick up just such an injury, when he came off with red stuff pouring from his mouth and, fatefully in light of what happened, winked at a team-mate as he did so. Evans had been waiting on the touchline even before the “blood” started to flow and he was allowed to return.

“Who punched Tom Williams in the mouth?” said one of the TV commentators. “Tom Williams?”

It was clear even then that the “injury” – assumed to be from some sort of tactical collision – had been deliberate. Nothing new about that. Tactical substitutions had been introduced in the first place because teams were so obviously inventing injuries to bring someone else on. That very season the phenomenon of the convenient injury for under-pressure props had become endemic.

If convenient injuries were nothing new, what followed was. ERC decided enough was enough. This particular fakery, apart from being so futile – Evans could barely walk and duly missed his one shot at goal – was so blindingly unsubtle. Evans’s warm-up beforehand, the mysterious appearance of claret, the wink – it was too much. Like a schoolboy taunting his teacher.

But the sharp practice did not end there. When ERC’s investigation could not pin it on anyone, they clobbered Williams with a clearly disproportionate ban of 12 months, designed equally clearly to rat out the real culprits.

By now, late July, Quins realised they were in trouble. Everyone was panicking. Quins offered Williams handsome compensation (or a bribe, depending on your sympathies); Williams responded by demanding more. Quins refused; Williams appealed against his ban and revealed that, with the Leinster doctor hammering on the door, he had pleaded with the club doctor, Wendy Chapman, to cut his lip in the changing room and she’d obliged. Dean Richards, the director of rugby, saw the elephants heading his way and resigned.

Then the rumours were confirmed: Steph Brennan, the club physio, had bought – on expenses – some blood capsules from a joke shop in Clapham and, under orders from Richards, slipped one to Williams during the last few minutes of the match. Joke? We didn’t know whether to laugh or rage until our cheeks burned.

Most opted for the latter. Harlequins’ name became a byword for treachery. Mark Evans, chief executive at the time, feared that the vibrant club they had built since professionalism would implode if, as was threatened, Quins were banned from Europe the following season. The RFU launched its Image of the Game taskforce to look into evidence of malpractice in rugby and found that the most common form of cheating was the feigning of injury to front-row forwards to force uncontested scrums. At the same time, the “Man Off” amendment was introduced – and uncontested scrums all but disappeared overnight.

As well as new protocols for concussion management, since adopted, the taskforce also suggested rolling substitutions, which almost seemed to sympathise with Quins’ original dilemma – to get one of their players back on to the pitch.

From such small beginnings, a monster grew. Evans later rued that “you would be incredibly naive” to think the stain of something like Bloodgate would ever disappear. But Harlequins did recover and thrived with the arrival of Conor O’Shea and the fortitude of the 10 men in the squad that day who are still there now, as well as the many others at the club who endured that traumatic summer of 2009.

Harlequins versus Leinster – it has a ring to it, all right. If only it were less of a knell.

Where are they now?

Harlequins Spared expulsion from Europe but fined €300,000. Once Conor O’Shea arrived the following March, they re-established momentum, winning the Premiership, Challenge Cup and LV Cup in the next three years.

Dean Richards The man behind the deception and, more tellingly, the attempted cover-up that followed. He was banned from rugby for three years. Now director of rugby at Newcastle.

Tom Williams His original 12-month ban was reduced to four months. He remained with the club, playing a full part in the triumphs that followed and scoring a try in the Premiership final. Current contract expires at the end of this season.

Steph Brennan Banned for two years from rugby, which cost him a post he was due to take up that September with England. Struck off a year later, but the decision was overturned by the high court. Now head physio with Sydney Roosters in the NRL.

Dr Wendy Chapman Suspended for a year but allowed to return to her practice at Maidstone hospital. Had been suffering from a depressive disorder at the time, having been diagnosed with breast cancer. The GMC issued her with a warning.

Party Superstore, Clapham The joke shop was burnt to the ground in the London Riots two years later. But, like its most famous client, rose from the ashes to trade again.

Leinster Went on to win the Heineken Cup that season and two more in the three years after that with a team generally regarded as the best the tournament has known.