Sale Sharks owner Brian Kennedy has vowed to "fight tooth and nail" against his club's one-point deduction.
Sharks chief determined to regain point dropped
Sale Sharks owner Brian Kennedy has vowed to "fight tooth and nail" against his club's one-point deduction.
The Guinness Premiership play-off hopefuls were docked one point by the Rugby Football Union because of an administrative error in failing to re-register Dave Ward after a loan spell with Manchester.
Ward came on the pitch as a substitute during Sale's 38-20 Guinness Premiership defeat against Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop in March.
As a result of the deduction, the Sharks go into the final round of regular season five points adrift of the play-off zone and know they must pick up a bonus-point win over Northampton while also hoping other results work in their favour.
Kennedy said: "We will fight tooth and nail to have the point reinstated.
"Harlequins had won the match by the time Ward was introduced into the game, and this is the first time a penalty like this has been issued when a club took nothing from a game.
"Our appeal will be on behalf of the team, the club and the supporters, who may well, if we don't appeal, miss out on a trip to Twickenham for the (Premiership) final."
