Sharks hit with deduction

Sale hit with one-point deduction

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Sale Sharks' Guinness Premiership title hopes have suffered a major setback after they were handed a one-point deduction for fielding an unregistered player.

The north west club had failed to re-register David Ward following the hooker's loan spell at Manchester before including him on the bench for the league game against Harlequins on March 22.

Sale, currently fifth in the table and now five points behind fourth-placed London Irish, now need a bonus point victory at home to Northampton on Saturday to stand any chance of qualifying for the play-offs.

The club was also fined £5,000 by a joint Rugby Football Union and Premier Rugby disciplinary panel.

Ward's introduction in place of a prop with eight minutes remaining and Sale trailing 31-15 resulted in the match finishing with uncontested scrums.

Focused

Sale chief executive James Jennings argued to the panel that an immediate points deduction would not be appropriate because "no rugby advantage was sought or gained".

He added that any points deduction should be suspended because of the impact it could have on Sale's play-off chances.

In a statement released on Monday, Jennings said: "The club are very disappointed that an administration failure has resulted in this sanction.

"The club, having just received the full details of the decision off the RFU panel will now study this in detail in order to consider what further actions, if any, it may take in regards to this matter.

"The club and squad remain totally focused on our final game of the regular season with the objective of securing five points in order to keep our play off chances alive."

Jennings explained in his submission to the panel that the Sale board was "appalled" at the administrative error.

As well as implementing new procedures to ensure a similar breach would not happen again, he is still conducting an internal disciplinary inquiry and is yet to decide whether any action is necessary.