Stuart Barnes has sympathy for Dean Richards but cannot criticise rugby for trying to clean up the game.
Punishing cheats will be good for the game says Stuart
Stuart Barnes has some sympathy for Dean Richards but says that you cannot criticise the rugby authorities for trying to clean up the game.
Former Harlequins director of rugby Richards has been banned from coaching for three years by an ERC independent committee.
He was found to be at the centre of a cover-up surrounding Quins' Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Leinster in April, the match in which wing Tom Williams faked a blood injury. Richards was also found to have been involved in four similar cover-ups, a revelation which has increased the severity of his punishment.
Richards was regarded as one of the best coaches in the game, however Stuart Barnes says that the former England backrower's reputation will take a massive blow despite these sorts of shenanigans going on in the game.
"I do have sympathy for Dean in the sense that it has gone on for a long long time and it is him that has been caught," Barnes told
Sky Sports News.
"It may seem like there is some hypocrisy because of that but on the flip side if the authorities who police the game say that you cannot cheat then it is hard to criticise them for being as draconian as they have been.
"It will diminish his reputation that is for sure. But he is not the only one person to do that and I think that has to be acknowledged.
"He was trying to win a game and he did bend the rules. You get cheating off the pitch and you get cheating on the pitch with players bending the rules themselves.
"In football, in rugby, in cricket everybody tries to win and sometimes the problem is that we in the media bury our heads in the sands and just pretend that this would never happen. Then we get a story and we tear the bones out of it and make it into something spectacular. To give him that length of time seems hugely draconian but if rugby is going to say we are going to tackle cheating then the flipside is that it is very good news for the game."
Is expulsion fair?
Harlequins also saw their fine increased from €250,000 to €300,000, however it could have been a lot worse as ERC disciplinary officer Roger O'Connor was allegedly seeking Quins' expulsion from this season's Heineken Cup.
"Again that is extremely draconian but they have been caught cheating and if we wish to clean the game up then those who get caught cheating should get banned," added Stuart.
"It would be a very bold move and it would be hard on Harlequins but they have been found guilty and it would be hard to argue against it.
"Tough penalties in sport does make people think twice and if people have done it and got away with it then they do not think twice about doing it again. If you are in danger of getting a three year ban and getting chucked out of the worlds biggest club tournament well that will change things."
Depsite a tough summer where rugby has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, Barnes believes that there is certainly not a crisis in union and some good performances on the field will get everything back on track.
"The game recovers by producing some very good rugby in the first few weeks of the season," explained Barnes.
"Cheating happens week in and week out but if we are going to get panicky about it then we have to look at football, look at cricket, look at athletics and every other sport - unfortunately it is a fact of life."
